In June 1996, the FCC adopted the First Report and Order for LNP Portability, which required that all service providers complete the deployment of a long-term service provider Local Number Portability method, in the 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), by December 31, 1998.

By 1997, technical requirements were defined and the industry concluded that regional Local Routing Number (LRN) database administration would be preferable to state or national level administration.

Seven regional Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) were formed, aligning with the original Bell Operating Companies, for the primary purpose of evaluating/selecting a database vendor and developing/administering the vendor contract.