On Monday, 70 million Americans will have the convenience of being able to keep their phone numbers if they leave their wireless carrier and join another service provider, the FCC said.
Wireless carriers must implement local number portability by May 24 in more sparsely populated areas of the country than the biggest U.S. cities. Last November, carriers operating in the 100 largest metropolitan areas had to comply with the rules.
Since November, Americans have switched 3.34 million phone numbers from one wireless carrier to another, according to the FCC. Approximately 229,000 numbers involved customers taking their wireline number to a wireless carrier, the FCC stated, and slightly more than 7,000 people transferred a wireless number to a landline phone.
Approximately 900, or 90 percent, of rural wireline companies have asked state regulators for delays of several months to implement the requirements, according to a USA Today story. An FCC spokesperson did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the requests.
