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. As such, it facilitates local number portability in the United States and Canada.
History
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. ยง 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). Subsequently, the FCC selected Lockheed Martin as the LNP administrator.
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. 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.
On March 26, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the recommendation of the North American Numbering Council (NANC) to award the contract to Telcordia Technologies, doing business as Iconectiv, as the next Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA), after 18 years of management by Neustar. The FCC stated it based its decision on the company's "experience administering sensitive numbering systems" and cost savings. With commission oversight, North American Portability Management, LLC (NAPM) negotiated the terms of a Master service agreement (MSA) with iconectiv. The MSA was submitted to the FCC for review and approval in March 2016.