Cell-phone users win right to retain their numbers

WASHINGTON — Mobile phone users should be able to keep their phone numbers if they switch to other wireless carriers, a federal court ruled Friday, rejecting an appeal from big U.S. cell phone providers.

The decision was a victory for consumer advocates who argued that denying consumers the right to keep their phone numbers inhibits competition by locking in customers who might otherwise change carriers. The companies now have until Nov. 24 to comply with the ruling.

The Federal Communications Commission first ordered number portability in 1996, with an initial deadline of June 1999. The deadline was extended three times by the FCC in response to requests from wireless firms. But their luck ran out with the latest appeal, by Verizon Wireless and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

The court called the FCC's rule "permissible and reasonable" and said the industry lost the appeal at least partly because it was six years late in filing.

CTIA President Tom Wheeler said he was disappointed by the decision. He said that if the FCC doesn't provide more guidance on how number portability will work, "consumers will find chaos in the market."

While fighting the requirement, cell phone companies have been preparing to provide the service by creating technology, training workers and making agreements with competitors. Readiness varies among carriers.

Verizon Wireless, which has been working for months to meet the deadline, said it would push for Congress to undo the requirement.

"Requiring local number portability is bad public policy," the company said in a statement. "The resources required to fulfill this new mandate will unnecessarily be redirected from our core business activities: expanding network quality and reach, improving customer service, and initiating new services and products."

The wireless industry estimates that number portability will cost more than $1 billion in the first year and $500 million each year thereafter.

Chris Murray, an attorney for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, called the court ruling a "a big win for consumers." He said the lack of portability particularly harms small businesses and self-employed people because when switching carriers they lose numbers known by their customers.

Many cell phone users outside the United States, in places such as Britain, Australia and Hong Kong, already have the option of keeping their numbers when they switch carriers.