Service Requirements After LNP [Telecom]

Looking for some advice on this one, it's and oddball question to be sure.

I have a number in TN that was ported from Bellsouth to a CLEC roughly

3 years ago. The exchange that this number was ported from is a local call for subscribers of a particular ILEC in the area.

For the last 3 years, subscribers of the ILEC's local service have been able to call the ported number without issue. Last week, they started getting operator errors and such. We were able to determine that the ILEC was now actively blocking calls to the ported number because they said they had been incurring charges on those calls for years.

I'm in the middle of the complaint with the TRA, but I had a question that I can't seem to find the specific answer to.

If an ILEC provides local service to a particular NPA-NXX , are they required to provide local service to all numbers in that specific NPA- NXX, regardless of the destination carrier, without additional charges?

The ILEC is taking the position that they don't have to provide the same service on a particular TN if it has been ported, even if they provide service on the remainder of the NPA-NXX.

Can anyone point me in the direction of the statues that define this type of thing?

Much appreciated.

***** Moderator's Note *****

In theory, it's a "Calling party pays" system, without charges to the receiving station for an incoming call.

However, in practice, since most users pay a flat monthly fee, CLEC's do everything that they can to encourage _incoming_ traffic and discourage _outgoing_ calls: each company gets a settlement fee for _terminating_ a call which they receive from another CLEC or the ILEC.

IANALB, I think the ILEC is (pun intended) on the hook for the fee.

Bill Horne Temporary Moderator

Please put [Telecom] at the end of your subject line, or I may never see your post! Thanks!

I presume the "TRA" is the "Tennessee Rate Authority", or something similar -- the state-level agency with regulatory authority over public utilities.

Escalate directly to the FCC as well.

No, not "without additional charge." *HOWEVER* they are required deliver the call _to_ the called number.

If the ILEC 'rate center' where the ported number is handed off to the CLEC, is different than where the 'home' NXX is, it may be a 'local toll' call, with additional charges payable by the calling party.

I *THINK* the CLEC has to have a POP to accept the hand-off, that is _in_ the rate center where the NXX is served, expressly to avoid the "some numbers on that exchange are 'local', some are 'toll'" issue.

That is true. But they _do_ have to provide service to connect their customers to the CLEC handling it. If they rate it as a 'local' call, then they have to eat the termination charges, if any. If they rate it as a 'toll' call, then they can collect from their customers , _PER_ _TARIFF_, for those calls.

This is going to depend on what the 'rate and route' database says for the termination location of -your- number, and for the rest of the exchange.

Relevant stuff will be miles deep in the ILEC tariff filings, and in FCC "rulemakings". "Title 47 CFR", somewhere.