COM/LYN/epg 8/17/2001

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Order Instituting Rulemaking on the Commission's Own Motion into Competition for Local Exchange Service.	Rulemaking 95-04-043 (Filed April 26, 1995)
Order Instituting Investigation on the Commission's Own Motion into Competition for Local Exchange Service.	Investigation 95-04-044 (Filed April 26, 1995)

ASSIGNED COMMISSIONER'S RULING

TRANSFERRING ADMINISTRATION OF THE 916, 323 AND 925 STATE NUMBER POOLS FROM TELCORDIA TO NEUSTAR

This ruling authorizes Telcordia Technologies, Inc., the designated Pooling Administrator for the 916, 323, and 925 NPAs, to transition the administration of the three California pools to NeuStar, Inc. (NeuStar) as part of NeuStar's designation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the National Thousands-Block Number Pooling Administrator.

A. Background

On September 15, 1999, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted and released FCC Order 99-248, which granted the Commission interim authority to implement various area code conservation and relief planning measures. In that order, the FCC granted the Commission interim authority to conduct mandatory thousand-block number pooling trials in California.

On March 17, 2000, the FCC adopted FCC 00-104, Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,¹ in which it determined that "a national thousand-block pooling framework [is] mandatory for all carriers that are currently required to be LNP-capable either because they provide service in one of the largest 100 MSAs, or pursuant to a request from another carrier."² Furthermore, the FCC concluded that: (1) nationwide pooling should be administered by a single pooling administrator, (2) implementation of nationwide pooling should be delayed until a national pooling administrator is selected, and (3) states will be permitted to continue to implement individual pooling trials through individual requests for additional delegation of authority until the national pooling framework is in place.³ In addition, FCC 00-104 mandates that thousand-block number pooling be implemented on a national level within nine months of the selection of a national pooling administrator and that the national rollout of number pooling should encompass a maximum of three NPAs in each NPAC region per quarter.⁴ California is in the West Coast region, along with Nevada and Hawaii.

On November 21, 2000, I issued a ruling adopting a general schedule for the implementation of thousand-block number pooling in designated numbering plan areas (NPAs) during the year 2001. On February 9, 2001, I issued a ruling designating the Pooling Administrators for each NPA, setting forth more detailed schedules and prescribing procedures for moving forward with the implementation of the number pooling trials for 2001 on a timely basis.

On June 18, 2001, the FCC's Common Carrier Bureau announced that it had selected NeuStar, Inc. to be the National Thousands-block Number Pooling Administrator. The national pooling rollout schedule is divided into three-month segments, with the first round of implementation scheduled to begin in March 2002. In the interim, pursuant to the FCC's March 17, 2000 Order, this Commission retains the authority to implement number pooling trials until the national framework is implemented in March 2002.