Washington, D.C. (Dec. 1, 1999) – The administrator of the North American Numbering Plan (NANPA) and Local Number Portability (LNPA) for the telecommunications industry will now be known as NeuStar, Inc., following the Federal Communications Commission’s approval November 17 of the transfer of Lockheed Martin’s Communication Industry Services (CIS) division to NeuStar, Inc.

"NeuStar will continue to provide the same high-quality, neutral third-party clearinghouse services to the telecommunications industry as we did under Lockheed Martin," said Jeff Ganek, Chief Executive Officer of NeuStar. "The change to our customers will be transparent. We will still provide the same level of service, with the same systems and the same staff."

NeuStar is a key partner to the telecommunications industry. As the NANPA, NeuStar is the sole administrator of all area codes and central office codes (or exchanges) in North America. NeuStar also administers area code relief activities, number pooling and other actions to relieve exhaust of available telephone numbers.

As the LNPA, NeuStar manages the database that is a critical component for the routing of all telephone calls in North America. All telecommunications carriers in the United States and Canada connect to NeuStar’s Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) in Chicago. There, advanced LNP technology enables customers to keep their same phone numbers if they switch local telephone service providers. The LNP system also conserves numbers and facilitates competition within the industry.

In another neutral, third-party role, NeuStar serves as the administrator for number pooling trials in Illinois, New York and California. Number pooling is the technology that allows phone numbers to be assigned in blocks of 1,000, instead of the telephone network-mandated structure of 10,000 numbers blocks. This provides efficient management of numbering resources and extends the time before new area codes must be added.

"We remain committed to working with the FCC, the North American Numbering Council, the telecommunications industry and state regulatory agencies to ensure that our valuable numbering resources are conserved and efficiently utilized," said Ganek. "This is important to extend the lives of area codes and telephone numbers. And, it is important that all service providers get the numbers they need to compete."

NeuStar, which is based in Washington, D.C., was formed as an independent company committed to administering high-quality, evenhanded and competitively neutral services to the telecom industry. Last year, Lockheed Martin announced it was entering the market for telecommunications network services. To maintain the neutrality of the numbering plan administration, Lockheed Martin agreed to transfer CIS to NeuStar, formed by NeuStar management and employees. Financing for NeuStar is provided by Warburg, Pincus, a New York-based private equity investor.

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Copyright © 1999 NeuStar, Inc. Last modified: December 14, 1999