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 is needed in view of pending exhaustion of numbering resources 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 three and one-half 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 do not currently apply to paging carriers.
9. The prospects for number exhaustion in the 310 area code is being driven by the fact that only nine prefix codes remain available and only 477 thousand blocks of numbers exist to replenish the 310 area code number pool carriers' demand and paging carriers' demand through the lottery. In certain rate centers, the available number of thousand-blocks is less than five.
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 in all rate centers 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 for all future area code relief.
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 potentially depriving carriers and their customers of numbers needed to meet demand.
3. The question of the appropriate form of relief for the 310 area code was decided in D.00-09-073, and the only limited question before the Commission in this order is the timing of implementation of the adopted backup relief plan.
4. 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 in the order below.
5. 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 concurrent with its opening. The existing 310 number pool should continue pursuant to the federal number pooling program.
6. NeuStar, Inc., as the FCC's appointed Pooling Administrator, will be the Pooling Administrator for the 424 area code number pool.
7. 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 paging companies and 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 |
May 21, 2005 |
Second Customer Notice |
Within three months of beginning date for Mandatory Dialing |
Start of Mandatory Dialing |
September 10, 2005 |
First Code Activation Using New Area Code |
January 7, 2006 |
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, specify the geographic areas to be covered by the old and new area codes, and identify the 310 area code prefixes moving to the 424 area code.
4. Each telephone corporation, including paging companies and resellers, 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 2, the geographic areas to be covered by the old and new area codes and a listing of the prefixes changing to the 424 area code, by separate direct mailing, without delay and no later than 120 days after the effective date of this order.
5. Each telephone corporation serving the existing 310 area code shall provide a second notice of the schedule for the new area code implementation the affected geographic areas, and a listing of 424 area code prefixes by separate mailing within three months of the beginning date for mandatory dialing of the new area code.
6. All carrier notifications shall be pre-approved by the Public Advisor and the Telecommunications Division prior to mailing to customers.
7. The NANPA shall provide nationwide notification of the adopted 310/424 area code relief plan by no later than 45 days after the effective date of this order.
8. The Telecommunications Division (TD) 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.
9. 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) concurrent with the opening of the new area code, with NeuStar, Inc. serving as Pooling Administrator.
10. 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.
11. 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 for wireline, wireless, or paging carriers shall be permitted.
12. 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 all-in).
13. 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 B
Status of Remaining Number Blocks in 310 Area Code
(By Rate Center)
|
Rate Center |
Number of Blocks Available |
Avalon Beverly Hills Compton: Compton DA Compton: Gardena DA Culver City El Segundo Hawthorne Inglewood Lomita Malibu Redondo San Pedro Santa Monica: Mar Vista DA Santa Monica: Santa Monica DA Torrance West Los Angeles Total |
7 79 33 33 24 70 22 2 2 8 51 0 67 45 3 31 477 |
(END OF APPENDIX B)
Pulsifer Agenda Dec. Appendix A
