V. Assignment of Proceeding
Loretta M. Lynch is the Assigned Commissioner and Thomas R. Pulsifer is the assigned Administrative Law Judge in this proceeding.
1. A new area code needs to be implemented now in view of pending code exhaustion in the 310 area code.
2. The Commission is required under FCC rules to open a new area code where necessary to avoid code exhaustion and denial of numbering resources necessary for competitive service.
3. The Commission has undertaken reasonable measures to assure that numbering resources in the 310 area code are being utilized as efficiently as possible.
4. In D.00-09-073, the Commission previously approved Alternative #1A, a geographic split, as the designated back-up plan to be implemented for relief in the 310 area code.
5. Carriers were previously directed in D.00-09-073 to begin necessary switch conversions in September 2000 to accommodate the new 424 area code.
6. A permissive and mandatory dialing period is necessary to provide customers sufficient time to prepare for and accustom themselves to the new area code split.
7. A period of five months' permissive dialing and four months' mandatory dialing provides a reasonable time for customers to prepare for the new area code in view of the remaining numbering resources available in the 310 area code.
8. Since paging carriers cannot currently participate in thousand-block number pooling, the enhanced number utilization efficiencies being realized by number pooling participants does not currently apply to paging carriers.
9. The prospects for numbers exhaustion in the 310 area code is being driven by the fact that only 8 prefix codes remain available to replenish the 310 area code number pool carriers' demand and paging carriers' demand through the lottery.
10. Even though the TD audit of the 310 area code utilization revealed additional unused numbers, the audit report still concluded that the additional numbers were not sufficient to avoid the need to implement the 310/424 area code split.
11. Under existing industry practice, at the end of the prescribed mandatory dialing period, all service providers and carriers remove from their switching networks the special recorded message instructing the caller to redial using the new area code.
12. Once the special recording played during the mandatory dialing is discontinued, callers dialing the wrong area code may not be properly informed regarding the need to hang up and dial the new area code.
13. It is in consumers' best interests that an independent staff verification of carrier-reported numbers be made prior to adoption of a back-up plan
1. All reasonable efforts have been pursued to extend the life of the 310 area code without the necessity of opening a new area code.
2. Notwithstanding all reasonable efforts to extend the 310 area code life, the new 424 area code should proceed with implementation immediately in order to avoid code exhaust, thereby potentially depriving carriers and their customers of numbers needed to meet demand.
3. The back-up plan for a 310/424 area code split as adopted in D.00-09-073 should be implemented in accordance with the schedule adopted below.
4. As a condition of approving implementation of the 310/424 area code split, thousand-block number pooling should be implemented in the 424 area code concurrently with its opening. The existing 310 number pool should continue pursuant to the federal number pooling program.
5. NeuStar, Inc. should be appointed as pooling administrator for the 424 are code number pool and should continue as pooling administrator for the 310 number pool.
6. Lottery rationing of prefixes in the 310 area code should continue at least until the end of the mandatory dialing period.
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. The North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) and the telephone corporations, including resellers, are hereby ordered to proceed with all due diligence to expeditiously implement the approved 310/424 area code split. Alternative 1A geographic split, including finalizing any switch conversions. The boundary lines of the geographic split and the rate centers assigned to the new 424 area code are as set forth in Appendix A.
2. The new 424 area code shall take effect under the following schedule:
Events |
Dates |
Start of Permissive Dialing |
October 18, 2003 |
Start of Mandatory Dialing |
March 20, 2004 |
End of Mandatory Dialing |
July 24, 2004 |
3. The NANPA shall promptly notify the carriers in the 310 area code regarding the new area code to be assigned, through a geographic split of the existing 310 area code. The notice shall set forth the above-adopted schedule for the permissive and mandatory dialing periods for the new area code to be activated, and specify the geographic areas to be covered by the old and new area codes.
4. Each telephone corporation, excluding paging companies, serving the geographic area covered by the existing 310 area code shall give written notice to its affected customers of the adopted 310 area code relief plan schedule as prescribed in Ordering Paragraph 3, by separate direct mailing, without delay and no later than 90 days from the effective date of this order.
5. Each telephone corporation, excluding paging companies, serving the existing 310 area code shall provide a second written notice of the schedule for the new area code implementation and affected geographic areas by separate mailing within three months of the beginning date for mandatory dialing of new area code.
6. The NANPA shall provide nationwide notification of the adopted 310/424 area code relief plan by no later than 30 days from the effective date of this order.
7. The Telecommunications Division and Consumer Services Division, in cooperation with the Public Advisor, shall monitor the customer notification process concerning the 310/424 area code split and shall advise the assigned Commissioner in the event that further customer outreach efforts need to be implemented. To the extent that such additional customer outreach efforts are found to be warranted, affected carriers shall be notified and directed to implement such outreach measures.
8. The existing 310 area code thousand-block number pooling shall continue in effect and apply to all numbers assigned in the 424 area code (except for paging companies) concurrently with the opening of the new area code, with NeuStar, Inc. serving as Pooling Administrator.
9. The existing thousand-block number pool for the 310 area code shall also continue in operation in the remaining 310 area code region after the split is implemented pursuant to federal rules.
10. The Motion of the California Cellular Carriers' Association (CCAC) filed in this docket on August 2, 2000 is granted in part to the extent of the NPA relief plan implemented in this order, and is denied in part to the extent the motion seeks to end central office prefix code rationing.
11. The motion of CCAC to file certain information contained in its motion under seal, as contained under Tab A of that motion, is granted. The confidential material shall remain under seal for a two-year period from today's date unless a new motion is filed with good cause shown to extend the sealed period.
12. The motion of CCAC to discontinue rationing of codes in the 310 area code is denied. The prefix code lottery shall continue through the implementation phase of the 310/424 split for the sole purpose of meeting paging companies' demand.
13. Parties are directed to submit comments on alternative measures that may be feasible to extend the period during which the special recording is played directing callers to dial the new area code. Parties shall identify and discuss any technical, economic or regulatory constraints to be resolved and proposed solutions in order to continue the special recording played during the mandatory dialing period for an indefinite period until the numbers subject to the area code change are assigned to a new customer. Opening comments shall be due 20 business days from the effective date of this order. Reply comments shall be due 10 business days thereafter.
14. All 310 area code numbers assigned to rate centers designated to change to 424 area code shall be required to use the new area code in accordance with D.03-04-056. No grandfathering of 310 numbers in the 424 area code shall be permitted.
15. In accordance with industry numbering guidelines, the following industry-standard prefixes shall be duplicated (i.e., set aside for the same special use for which they are used in 310) in the 424 area code: the N11 prefixes (211, 311, etc.), 555, 700, 950, 958, 959, and 976. Additionally, the following non-standard special-use prefixes shall be duplicated in the 424 area code until such time as the Commission formally addresses the possibility of consolidating or eliminating them throughout the state: 853 (time) and 520 (high-volume call-in).
16. The Director of TD is hereby delegated the task of reviewing the current lottery allotment and readjusting the allotment of prefix codes for the 310 area code between the lottery and the number pool as appropriate.
This order is effective today
Dated , at San Francisco, California.
Appendix A, 310 Area Code Pulsifer Agenda Dec.
