9. Assignment of Proceeding

Michael R. Peevey is the assigned Commissioner and Maribeth A. Bushey is the assigned Administrative Law Judge in this proceeding.

Findings of Fact

1. In D.99-07-017, the Commission adopted a two-way geographic split plan for relief of the 760 area code.

2. In D.99-07-053, we suspended the split plan, and instead ordered the development and implementation of more efficient means of using numbering resources to extend the life of area codes.

3. NANPA filed this application on June 18, 2007, and served copies of a notice of availability of the application on all 760 central office code or block holders as well as all cities and counties in the 760 area.

4. NANPA's application forecasted that the 760 area code will exhaust in the 3rd quarter of 2009.

5. No protests have been submitted.

6. Consistent with Pub. Util. Code § 7931(e)(2), NANPA and CPUC staff conducted local jurisdiction and public meetings, and put forward the four alternatives set out in Attachment A.

7. NANPA fully supported the projected exhaust of the 760 area code by providing utilization data and performing a utilization study on the 760 area code, which complies with §§ 7936 and 7943(c).

8. The application recommended an all-services overlay, and the Joint Telecommunications Carriers supported this recommendation.

9. A significant number of customers did not support the proposed overlay. The reason most commonly cited was the inconvenience of 1+10-digit dialing and the large geographic area of the existing 760 area code. The comments are summarized in Attachment B.

10. The application included a 15-month schedule for notifying customers of a geographic split and modifying the network.

11. No hearing is necessary.

Conclusions of Law

1. Conservation measures have extended the life of the 760 area code for several years, thus delaying the need for an area code change. All reasonable telephone number conservation measures have been implemented. To accommodate future needs, there is no reasonable alternative other than to create a new area code. Accordingly, we have complied with § 7943(c) by ordering an area code change.

2. The schedule for public and customer notice set out in Ordering Paragraph 5 complies with §§ 7931(f)(2) and (g), and § 7932(a)(3).

3. The implementation schedule set out in Ordering Paragraph 5 provides for a transitional or permissive dialing period when dialing either area code will complete the call and, after mandatory dialing is imposed, a recorded message informing the caller of the new area code, as required by § 7932.

4. Pursuant to §§ 7931(f) and (f)(1), NANPA should notify the applicable code holders and thousand-block holders in the 760 area code of the implementation of the two-way geographic split, its schedule, and the region included, as well as all cities and counties in the new 442 area code, within 30 days from the effective of this order.

5. Consistent with Sections 7931(f)(2) and 7931(g) of the Public Utilities Code, written notice to all affected customers shall include information about the specific geographic area that will be included in the new area code, the geographic boundaries of the new area code and the prefixes that will be included in the new area code, and shall be contained in a mailing separate from the customer's regular bill.

6. We have established a history of evaluating certain criteria when considering area code relief options. Those criteria indicate that, due in large part to the unique geographic circumstances of the existing 760 area code, a two-way geographic split is the best alternative for adopting numbering relief for the 760 area code.

7. All service providers operating within the 760 Number Planning Area and/or having numbering resources with the 760 area code should cooperate in implementing the customer notification plan as set forth in Ordering Paragraph 5.

ORDER

Therefore, IT IS ORDERED that:

1. The two-way geographic split proposed in the application as alternative one for the 760 area code is adopted.

2. The following rate centers in the existing 760 area code shall comprise the new 442 area code: Borrego, Encinitas, Escondido, Fallbrook, Julian, Oceanside: Carlsbad, Oceanside: Oceanside; Oceanside: Pendleton, Pauma Valley, Ramona, San Marcos, Valley Center, Vista, Warner Springs. The telephone number prefixes associated with these rate centers are listed in Attachment C.

3. Within 30 days of the effective date of this order, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) shall notify the applicable code holders and thousand-block holders in the 760 area code of the implementation of the two-way geographic split of the 760 area code, the prefixes comprising the new 442 area code, and the schedule for implementation.

4. The NANPA and the code and thousand block holders in the new 442 area code shall comply with the implementation schedule adopted below.

5. The following implementation schedule is adopted:

EVENT	RESPONSIBLE PARTY	TIMEFRAME
File and Serve Final Implementation Plan with specific dates	NANPA	Within 30 days of order
Notify Code/Block Holders and Cities and Counties of split and schedule	NANPA	Within 30 days of order
Public and Business Notification of split and schedule	NANPA	Within 30 days of order
Customer Notification and Network Preparation Period	Code/Block Holders	Six months in duration, begin with date of order
First Customer Notice	Code/Block Holders	Prior to Permissive Dialing
Permissive Dialing Period, 442 Area Code Activated	Code/Block Holders	Six months in duration, begin with conclusion of Customer Notification and Network Preparation.
Second Customer Notice	Code/Block Holders	Between 75 and 30 days before mandatory dialing begins
Dialing Mandatory	Code/Block Holders	Begins at end of Permissive Dialing Period
Recorded Announcement Period	Code/Block Holders	Three months in duration, begins at end of Permissive Dialing Period

6. The Director of the Communications Division shall oversee implementation of the 760 area code split and may authorize such additional or modified notice requirements as may be necessary to efficiently implement the 442 area with a minimum of inconvenience and expense for customers.

7. Within 30 days of the effective date of today's decision, the NANPA shall file and serve a final implementation schedule which shall include the specific dates for all implementation events needed to comply with this order.

8. Application 07-06-018 is closed.

This order is effective today.

Dated April 24, 2008, at San Francisco, California.

MICHAEL R. PEEVEY

President

DIAN M. GRUENEICH

JOHN A. BOHN

RACHELLE B. CHONG

Commissioners

I will file a dissent.

/s/ TIMOTHY ALAN SIMON

Commissioner

Dissent of Commissioner Timothy Alan Simon

Item 25: Relief of the 760 Numbering Plan Area

I. Introduction

The question of how to accommodate the ever-growing number of California telephone users continues to confront this Commission. Fervent arguments have been advanced by the supporters of both split and overlay solutions, but on balance, I am convinced, with modern technologies and human behavioral trends, that overlays best serve the needs of the residents and businesses.

As I represented in the 818 Area Code Relief decision that, with my fellow commissioners' support we adopted on consent¹⁶- I philosophically support overlays as the correct solution for area code relief in California based on the factual records that have been developed.

As such, I cannot support the Alternative I adopted by the majority, which opts instead for a geographically-based area code split for the 760 area code.

II. Overlays Allow Existing Consumers To Retain Their Telephone Numbers.

Numbering relief in the 760 area is imperative - being driven by the economic and population growth along the coast. In this regard, it would be an understatement to claim that the public has been passionate about the outcome of this proceeding. The adopted decision reports that the Commission staff received more than 1,300 comments-601 in favor of the geographic split Alternative I; 163 in favor of geographic split Alternative IV; and 261 in favor of the overlay Alternative III.¹⁷ By these numbers, the vast majority would appear to favor a split of some type, as opposed to an overlay. But when I met with parties on both sides of the debate, the singularly resonant message that I heard was: "Whatever you do, just let me keep my 760 area code!" Accordingly, I consider Split Alternative I pandering to the misguided belief of residents that they will retain the incumbent 760 area code.

This decision fails to heed that consumer concern for constancy and, instead, adopts a geographic area code split that, much as the colonial powers did at the Treaty of Versailles, places the Commissioners in the unenviable position of picking consequential boundaries of winners and losers. The majority's decision bequeaths 760 to the vast northeast and relegates the new 442 code to the denser population of consumers in the southwestern area, near San Diego. In contrast, the overlay alternative would have assigned the new area code to new customers after exhausting the inventory of 760 area codes and would have allowed existing customers to retain their existing telephone numbers. The cost that will be incurred by business and residents is regrettable.

III. Splits Place Enormous Avoidable Costs On Small Business Owners.

Rising costs threaten the survival of small businesses as they face greater economic challenges to stay competitive and cost effective. Small business innovation and job creation is what makes America great. As such, I favor exploring and, when appropriate, advocating alternatives that lower the costs to small businesses.

I am concerned that splits place enormous burdens on small businesses and the customers of small businesses, to the extent that those costs must be passed on through higher prices. At a minimum, these avoidable costs include reprinting telephone numbers on stationery, business cards, advertising materials, fleets, and other business-promotional signage. Further, the potential that businesses could lose their connection to former customers is significant.

In addition to allocating the least amount of costs on consumers and businesses in the affected area, overlays are the least disruptive option and most technology friendly.

IV. Area Code Splits Are a Short-Term Solution in Light of New Technology Advances.

Area code splits-no matter how implemented-are short term fixes. Ten and even fifteen digit phone numbers will be the norm-it's only a matter of time.¹⁸ In the interim, split solutions cater to a segment of the population that would be better served by accepting the inevitable and embracing technologies that adopt ten-digit local dialing.

The truth is, the future is here. We regularly connect to ten-digit numbers and think nothing of it because there is no inconvenience. We store the full ten-digit phone numbers of our contacts in our autobooks, cellular phones, fax machines, computers and voice recognition devises. "Any-number" digit dialing is relatively painless with broadly available modern technologies.

V. Geographic Constraints

Opponents of the overlay solution point to the vast geographic reach of the 760 area code as support for a split solution. I disagree. Most of the area is desert and mountains, meaning that the areas are sparsely populated, if at all. Moreover, overlays have been implemented in other large, rural geographic areas-for example, but limited to the Province of Alberta, Canada.¹⁹

VI. Conclusion

I have voted against this decision because the record developed in this proceeding confirms my informed conviction that overlays are the technology-friendly, cost-efficient and least disruptive solution for area code relief.

Dated April 24, 2008 San Francisco, California

/s/ TIMOTHY ALAN SIMON

Timothy Alan Simon

Commissioner

¹⁶ D08-04-059; A.07-12-018 re: 818 Area Code Relief

¹⁷ D.08-04-058, page 6 and Appendix B, page 1.

¹⁸ The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has developed an international numbering plan, referred to as the E.164 plan that provides unique worldwide numbers for public telephone systems. Each assigned number contains a country code, a national destination code, and a subscriber number with up to 15 digits. http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci1094695,00.html# (accessed April 25, 2008)

¹⁹ Mandatory 10-digit dialing for local calls will commence for the entire province of Alberta, Canada on September 19, 2008. See: http://www.nanpa.com/pdf/PL_374.pdf and http://www.crtc.gc.ca/ENG/NEWS/RELEASES/2007/r070614.htm