In 1992, the FCC determined several critical issues coming to the forefront of numbering issues in North America. Engaging Industry Canada (the FCC equivalent), the FCC invited several parties to the table to determine the considerations, their impact and solutions for the administration of World Zone One Numbering Plan. The biggest issues came about from competitors and new entrants (Cellular, Directory Assistance, pending CLEC Entry, recent completion of Toll-Free Service Provider Portability) who felt their requirements could not be met when the numbering plan administration for World Zone One was handled by a department, North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA) in BELLCORE. BELLCORE (now Telcordia) was eager to divest itself of NANPA due to BELLCORE Ownership which excluded all BELL System competitors from ownership, including at that time any Canadian entity, AT&T or GTE, all who were major operators in the PSTN.
World Zone One is part of the ITU 164 Section Network Numbering which addresses world regional number administration and format. World Zone One numbering was controlled by the BOC Notes On the LEC Network, a publication made available every four years by BELLCORE.
Telco Planning was invited along with several carriers, new entrants and the current North American Numbering Plan Administrator. Telco Planning had three clients with divergent requirements and a common denominator. Lockheed Martin wanted to become the new North American Numbering Plan Administrator, Metro One Direct wanted a public directory assistance number assignment (NPA-555-1xxx) and then Cellular Carriers, facing competition from BELL PCS companies wanted number portability between network operators (much delayed, this became phase two, service portability).
Telco Planning and World Zone One Committee members met over a two-year period under the purview of Industry Canada and FCC staff to assemble the issues facing World Zone One. Some samples identified were:
The Results were:
1. ATIS Industry Numbering Committee (INC) to address new numbering requirements, such as number portability, NPA-555 number assignment, GETS and Abbreviated Dial
2. North American Numbering Council (NANC) provided as a regulatory arm for solutions proposed by INC and outside parties with a public policy interest.
3. Affirmation of numbering allocation would remain 10 digit in the NPA, NXX, XXXX format and to not adopt formats used in other World Zones.
The results for Telco Planning clients were success for Lockheed Martin, measure success for Metro One Direct who could not gain network routing adoptance nor billing record settlements but was able to go on to processing more than 80% of all Cellular DA calls for nearly a 10 year period. The Cellular Companies realized their goals as PSC merged partners by 1998.