3. Summary of Previous Commission Decision Ordering a Geographic Split to 760 Area Code (D.99-07-017)
On July 8, 1999, the Commission issued Decision (D.) 99-07-017, finding that the 760 area code was projected to exhaust the supply of available NXX codes in the first quarter of 2001.1 The Commission ordered a geographic split to the 760 area code, with the 65 rate centers serving Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Tulare, and Mono counties retaining the 760 area code and the 14 rate centers in northern San Diego County receiving a new area code. The Commission reasoned that the split line should be designed to separate the rural area, which comprises the geographic majority of the 760 area code, from the densely populated, fast-growing northern San Diego County, which is causing the exhaustion of the 760 area code.2 The Commission also noted that the geographic split will allow customers in both areas to retain 7-digit dialing, as well as allowing the 760 area code to retain its geographic identity of southeastern California.
In 2000, the Commission adopted additional numbering conservation measures that obviated the need for the approved geographic split of the 760 area code and suspended the ordered geographic split.3
1 The area code is said to "exhaust" when the supply of central office codes or NXX codes (three-digit prefixes in common parlance) is depleted.
2 Re Competition for Local Exchange Service, 1 CPUC3d 550, 554 (D.99-07-017).
3 Re Competition for Local Exchange Service, 7 CPUC3d 513 (D.00-07-053).
