NUMBER PORTABILITY: THE SERVICE BUREAU APPROACH

The current industry deployment of Number Portability, Local Number Portability (LNP), is an Intelligent Network feature that allows consumers to change local telecom service providers while keeping the same phone number. LNP is also known as Service Provider Number Portability (SPNP). Illuminet's service enables U.S. Cellular to utilize Illuminet's SS7 network to identify and terminate calls to ported wireline phone numbers for accurate call routing. Prior to Illuminet's introduction of NP services, wireless carriers were forced to choose between default routing provided by the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) and establishing their own NP access system to complete calls to ported numbers. Some ILECs, according to one wireless provider, have recently begun to bill for default routing.

U.S. Cellular is the second wireless provider to sign up for Illuminet's NP data access service within the past two months. Illuminet announced an agreement with the Cellular One affiliate in Hattiesburg, MS, on January 4, 2000.

Illuminet was the first provider in the United States to offer a service bureau approach for Number Portability. In September 1999, U.S. Cellular was the first wireless provider to test NP access over Illuminet's SS7 network. The FCC has mandated that wireless carriers implement Number Portability - to allow their wireless subscribers to keep their phone numbers when changing wireless providers - by November 2002. Wireline carriers have already implemented Local Number Portability in the top 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the U.S. In the future, Geographic Number Portability is expected to enable customers to take their phone numbers with them even if they move to a different area of the country.

Founded in 1981, Illuminet operates the largest unaffiliated Signaling System 7 (SS7) network in the United States and is a leading provider of complementary advanced signaling technology and applications to telecommunications carriers. Connection to the Illuminet network gives carriers access to the system of signaling networks of nearly the entire U.S. public-switched telecommunications infrastructure through a single source. Illuminet specializes in signaling network services and intelligent network solutions for a variety of services such as caller identification, calling card validation, wireless roaming and fraud management, network usage measurement, number portability, and other specialized database access functions. Illuminet's headquarters are at 4501 Intelco Loop, SE, Lacey, WA 98503; (360) 493-6000; www.illuminet.com.

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