Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel To Charge $1.55 For "Local Number Portability"

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 14:09:24 -0400

Wireless Companies Charge to Keep Phone Numbers
Mon Jul 7, 5:24 PM ET

By Yukari Iwatani

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. cellphone users may be happy to take their
telephone number with them when they switch wireless (news - web sites)
service providers, but they may not be as pleased to see the service
charges tacked onto their bills to pay for the convenience.

Some of the largest wireless companies are
charging customers a monthly fee of $1.50 to
$1.75 to pay for the implementation of new
federal requirements that include the ability to
use the same number with an account with a
different carrier, known as "local number
portability."

Under the new rules, wireless companies are
required to provide emergency 911 services and
"number pooling," a way to better allocate the
distribution of telephone numbers.

Sprint PCS (NYSE:PCS - news), the nation's
No. 4 wireless telephone operator, was the
latest company to alert their customers last
month to a new monthly fee.

Dan Wilinsky, a spokesman for the unit of
Sprint Corp. (NYSE:FON - news), told Reuters
on Monday customers will begin to see a
monthly fee of $1.50 -- 40 cents to pay for
emergency 911, and $1.10 to pay for number
portability and number pooling.

Wireless operators are preparing to offer
customers the ability to switch carriers without
giving up their telephone number starting
November 24, when U.S. regulators will enforce
the requirement.

Most carriers have opposed the portability requirement, arguing it is too
costly and consumers already change carriers on a regular basis. They say
the new rule will only cause the provider-switching phenomenon to grow, and
in turn, lead to more loss of customers and more damage to their profits.

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. (NYSE:AWE - news), the nation's No. 2
wireless operator in terms of revenue, said in a regulatory filing in October
2001 that wireless number portability will cost $42 million to implement, and
$50 million a year to support on an ongoing basis.

However, attempts so far by the industry to quash or delay the requirement
have all failed. A federal appeals court earlier upheld the Federal
Communication Commission's rule for portability.

Sprint PCS's Wilinsky declined to break out the fee it is charging for number
portability alone, but said it had previously charged 47 cents a month
starting February for number pooling alone.

Other carriers such as AT&T Wireless and Nextel Communications Inc.
(Nasdaq:NXTL - news) are charging $1.75 and $1.55 a month, respectively
for number portability, emergency 911 services and number pooling.

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ - news) (VOD.L), the No. 1 U.S. wireless
telephone company, recently reversed its stance on charging customers to
keep phone numbers. It said it will not initially charge fees to customers and
will review in November how to recoup costs, which it estimates at about 10
cents to 15 cents per customer per month.

T-Mobile (DTEGn.DE) is not currently charging its customers and declined
to speculate on whether it may do so in the future. Cingular Wireless, a joint
venture between BellSouth Corp. (NYSE:BLS - news) and SBC
Communications Inc. (NYSE:SBC - news), could not be reached for
comment.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&ncid=738&e=2&u=/nm/20030707/tc_nm/telecoms_wireless_dc

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