Number Portability Administration Center
The Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) is a function of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. It administers the routing of telephone calls and text messages (SMS) for the telecommunications industry and its customers.[1] As such, it facilitates local number portability in the United States and Canada.
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History
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. § 251(b)(2)) established that all local exchange carriers must implement local number portability (LNP) in accordance with the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[2] Subsequently, the FCC selected Lockheed Martin as the LNP administrator.[3]
The Number Portability Administration Center was originally implemented by the Communications Industry Services (CIS) division of Lockheed Martin in 1997. In 1998, Lockheed Martin formed a separate company, Neustar, for the management of the NPAC. At the time the work constituted the first database and registry to enable local number portability for the United States and Canada.[3] The database contains the data used to route, rate, and bill telephone calls for telephone numbers that are no longer assigned to the original carrier.
In 2015, the FCC awarded the contract for administration of the Number Portability Administration Center to Telcordia Technologies after 18 years of management by Neustar.[4]
