2. Background
The North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA),2 on behalf of the California Telecommunications Industry (industry),3 filed Application (A.) 11-06-008, in which it requests relief in the 408 numbering plan area (NPA or area code). No protests were filed. The Joint Telecommunications Carriers (Carriers) filed comments on July 11, 2011.
2.1. Process for Determining Recommended Relief
While the FCC holds full responsibility over all numbering issues, it has delegated to the states area code relief responsibilities.4 On behalf of the State of California, the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) is responsible for proactively monitoring area code relief planning, and oversees the integrity and competitive neutrality of the industry relief planning process.5
The NANPA's primary responsibilities are to ensure numbering resources are available to the telecommunications industry in the United States of America (United States) and Canada. 6 The NANPA assigns those resources in the form of area codes and prefixes; tracks their use to ensure effective and efficient utilization; and, on a semi-annual basis, forecasts which area codes will soon run out of prefixes,7 which is called "exhaust." When it determines that an area code is near exhaust, the NANPA, as a neutral third party, initiates and coordinates the planning process for resolving the utilization of available prefixes, which is known as "Area Code Relief Planning" (relief planning). Such relief planning, which includes the introduction of a new area code in the existing area code in which the exhaust is forecast to occur, normally begins three years prior to the forecasted exhaust.
After informing the Commission of the forecasted exhaust in an area code, the NANPA begins the relief planning process by calling a meeting with the industry in order to identify viable solutions to the forecasted exhaust. The industry is required to follow regulations established by the FCC and the Commission, as well as industry guidelines.8 After the industry develops feasible alternatives, such as an all-services overlay (overlay) or a geographic split (split),9 this group then strives to reach consensus on the best plan to resolve the forecasted exhaust in the area code in question.
The staff of the Commission's Communications Division (CD staff) then schedules Public Participation Meetings to inform the public and to receive public comment about the new area code alternatives.10 Representatives of the CD staff and the NANPA are present at these meetings in order to provide information to the public. After the Public Participation Meetings, the NANPA submits its application to the Commission for the new area code recommending the industry consensus solution. After the Commission has made its decision, telecommunications service providers are required to implement the new area code within a specified period.
2.2. Basics of the Telephone Numbering System
In each area code in the United States, telephone numbers are made up of an area code, a prefix, and a line number11 (for example, 408-555-1000). Specific geographic areas are assigned an area code, while each individual phone line is assigned a line number. Each area code is divided up into local serving areas called rate centers. The 408 area code has 11 rate centers.
Every prefix, which is assigned to a specific rate center, includes 10,000 line numbers.12 A prefix cannot begin with the numbers 0 or 1, due to network switching protocols. The FCC has set aside certain prefixes such as 211, 411, and 911, as abbreviated dialing patterns dedicated to special uses. Consequently, only 784 usable prefixes exist in a given area code. Once these 784 available prefixes are used, a new area code is necessary. As of November 4, 2010, there were only 47 remaining prefixes available in the 408 area code. One plus ten (1+10) digit dialing is required in California. For landline calls in California, a caller must use the 1+10 digit dialing to indicate to the phone system that the call will be routed to another area code.
2.3. Description of 408 Area Code
In 1947, when area codes were introduced to California, the locality now served by the 408 area code was part of the 415 area code, one of the first three area codes in the state. In June 1959, the 408 area code was created by splitting the 415 area code. In 1999, San Benito County and most of Monterey County and Santa Cruz County were split from the 408 area code and assigned the 831 area code.
The 408 area code is located predominantly in Santa Clara County, as well as neighboring cities and small unincorporated portions of Alameda and Santa Cruz Counties. The 408 area code consists primarily of the City of San Jose, the state's third largest city,13 as well as the cities of Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, and a small portion of the City of Palo Alto.
The 408 area code consists of urban, suburban, rural/agricultural communities, and commercial and industrial areas. This area code is also the home to an international airport, museums, over a dozen colleges and universities, approximately two dozen hospitals, and numerous high tech corporations such as Adobe, Apple Computer, Applied Materials, Cisco, Intel, eBay, and Netflix.
2.4. Past 408 Area Code Requests for Relief
Due to the high demand for diminishing numbering resources, the NANPA originally completed a relief planning process for the 408 area code in 1997.14 During that time, the NANPA also implemented a rationing plan for distributing the numbering resources to requesting telecommunications service providers. The 408 area code was declared to be in jeopardy15 in May of 1998 and has been subject to prefix rationing of two prefixes per month for non-pooling carriers, since that time.
The Commission received comments from the telecommunications industry, local government agencies and citizens regarding the proposed relief plans and ultimately approved an overlay for the 408 NPA on November 19, 1998.16 On December 16, 1999, the Commission indefinitely suspended the overlay plan in Decision (D.) 99-12-051. Since 2001, rationing, in the form of thousand-block-number pooling17 has been in force in the 408 area code. This number pooling delayed exhaust in the current 408 area code until now.
2 As a neutral third-party administrator, the NANPA has no independent view regarding the relief option proposed by the industry in this application.
3 The "industry" is composed of current and prospective telecommunications carriers operating in, or considering operations, within the 408 area code.
4 http://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Reports/FCC-State_Link/IAD/utilizationdec2000.pdf
5 Public Utilities (Pub. Util.) Code § 7936 states "The commission shall direct the North American Numbering Plan Administrator to obtain utilization data for any area code for which a relief plan is proposed, prior to adopting a plan for, or setting a date for, relief."
Pub. Util. Code § 7943 (a) "It is the intent of the Legislature that when the commission has no reasonable alternative other than to create a new area code, that the commission do so in a way that creates the least inconvenience for customers." Pub. Util. Code § 7943(c) "Before approving any new area code, the commission shall first perform a telephone utilization study and implement all reasonable telephone number conservation measures."
6 When projecting that an area code will run out of prefixes, the NANPA looks at a number of factors, including but not limited to: 1) the history of code assignments in the area code; 2) the current growth rate within the telecommunications industry in the NPA; 3) five years of annual code growth in that area code; and 4) each telecommunications service providers semi-annual growth forecast in the area code in question to determine future demand for new prefixes. The NANPA considers all this information to determine when an area code will run out of, or exhaust, all available prefixes. This information is also considered in NANPA's determination of the life expectancy for the relief alternatives being considered.
7 A prefix, also known as a central office code (CO code) is the second set of three digits of a telephone number. Prefixes are assigned to rate centers within an area code. Each prefix consists of 10,000 line numbers.
8 In planning area code relief, the industry: 1) is required to follow rate center boundaries; 2) may not consider certain types of relief, such as service-specific area codes for cell phones, pagers, or other services, due to current federal regulation;
and 3) may consider communities of interest, city and county boundaries, and natural dividing lines like mountains or rivers. The industry then measure these items against established industry criteria such as minimizing customer confusion, ensuring that relief plans have adequate projected lives, and maintain competitive neutrality among service providers.
9 An all-services overlay plan in which the original and new area codes apply to the same geographic area. A geographic split divides an area code into two area codes, each assigned to a specific geographic area with one area retaining the original area code and the other area is required to change to a new area code.
10 Public Utilities (Pub. Util.) Code § 7931, (e) (2) states, that "within nine months the coordinator and the commission staff shall conduct at least one meeting for representatives of local jurisdictions to inform them of the proposed area code relief options, and to afford them the opportunity to discuss the potential impact of the proposed options.
11 A line number, which is the last four digits of a customer's phone number, is the number assigned to the phone line that an individual customer uses.
12 Line numbers are assigned to telecommunications service providers in blocks of 1,000 - there are ten blocks in each prefix.
13 A.11-06-008 at 57, which is a copy of a California Department of Finance report dated April 29, 2010. This report addresses the level and growth of the population of California in the years 2009 and 2010.
14 Pursuant to Pub. Util. Code §§ 7936 and 7943(c), before approving any new area code, the Commission must obtain utilization data from NANPA for any area code for which a change is proposed, perform a telephone utilization study and implement all reasonable telephone number conservation measures. Where there is no reasonable alternative other than to create a new area code, the Commission must do so in a way that creates the least inconvenience for customers.
15 Jeopardy exists when the forecasted and/or actual demand for prefix resources will exceed the known supply during the planning/implementation interval for relief (per ATIS 9.3.1).
16 See D.98-11-065.
17 Thousand-block-number-pooling is a number conservation system that allows numbering resources to be distributed in blocks of one thousand instead of blocks of ten thousand. By doing this, multiple telecommunications service providers are able to share the ten-thousand number blocks. Prior to number pooling, all 10,000 numbers were assigned to service providers, whether they needed one or 10,000 numbers for their customers.
