ALJ/TRP/sid DRAFT Agenda ID #3851

9/23/2004 Item 48

Decision DRAFT DECISION OF ALJ PULSIFER (Mailed 8/24/2004)

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)

OPINION IMPLEMENTING 310/424 AREA CODE SPLIT

I. Summary

By today's decision, we authorize the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), together with carriers providing service in the 310 area code,¹ to proceed immediately with implementation of the back-up relief plan adopted in Decision (D.) 00-09-073. The back-up plan provides for a geographic split of the 310 area code to create a new 424 area code in order to replenish the supply of available telephone numbers. We issue this authorization after having explored all available means to avoid exhaustion of numbering resources in the 310 area code.

The relief plan that we implement in this order (Alternative 1A) was previously approved in D.00-09-073. In today's order, we adopt a schedule for its implementation. The adopted plan shall create a two-way geographic split of the 310 area code. The northern portion, including the majority of Inglewood, and all of Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Mar Vista, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Malibu and a small portion of the City of Hawthorne and Ventura County shall retain the 310 area code. The southern portion of the current 310 area code, including El Segundo, Hawthorne, Compton, Redondo, Torrance, Lomita, and San Pedro shall be split off to form a new 424 area code. The boundary lines and rate centers covered by the new area code are depicted in Appendix A of this order. The 424 area code may be dialed on a permissive basis beginning on May 21, 2005, and must be dialed on a mandatory basis for calls into the new area code beginning on September 10, 2005. Carriers may start assigning numbers in the 424 area code beginning January 7, 2006.

Permissive dialing is a term that refers to the introductory grace period during which customers are given the opportunity to begin adjusting to dialing the 424 area code for numbers assigned to the new area code. During the "permissive dialing period," customers have the option of dialing the new area code, but may still reach parties in the new 424 area code by dialing the 310 area code. Callers are encouraged to begin dialing the new area code once the permissive dialing period begins so that they will be used to the new area code by the time it becomes mandatory.

At the end of the permissive dialing grace period, a subsequent implementation phase begins referred to as the "mandatory dialing" period.² Once the mandatory dialing phase begins, callers dialing numbers that are assigned the new 424 area code must dial the new area code and can no longer reach the called party by dialing the 310 area code. During the "mandatory dialing" phase of implementation, carriers are required to play a special recorded message whenever a caller wrongly dials the 310 area code to reach a number that has been changed to the 424 area code. The recorded message instructs the caller to hang up and redial the number using the 424 area code.

In order to ensure that callers hear the special recorded message whenever they dial the 310 area code for numbers assigned to the 424 area code, no new numbers may be assigned to customers in the 424 area code during the mandatory dialing phase of implementation.³ Otherwise, a caller may reach a wrong number rather than hear the recorded message. Carriers are able to begin assigning numbers from prefixes in the new area code only after the mandatory dialing phase of implementation has been completed. Of course, mandatory dialing of the new area code remains in effect after the implementation period concludes. At the end of the mandatory dialing phase of implementation, however, the special recorded message instructing the caller to redial the number using the new area code is no longer played. We discuss our concerns regarding continued notice to the public of the new area code after the official end of the implementation period later in this order.

We recognize that any area code change will entail some level of disruption, particularly to those customers that are required to take the new area code. Therefore, the industry planning process considered a variety of alternatives in order to arrive at the most optimal overall plan during the earlier stages of this proceeding. The industry planning process evaluated all of the feasible plans in terms of a prescribed set of criteria as we have previously outlined in D.00-09-073. Alternative 1A was approved by the Commission, however, because it scored more highly in satisfying all of the designated criteria than any of the alternatives. Alternative 1A is expected to minimize the overall customer disruption and to result in the best overall balance of interests for all affected customers in the 310 area code.

Alternative 1A also allows the LAX International Airport to retain the 310 area code. By comparison, under an alternative plan where the new area code would have been assigned to northern region, more telephone numbers would have to be changed and the overall expected lives of the two area codes would be more unbalanced. Therefore, Alternative 1A provides a better overall balancing of interests compared with the alternative of assigning the new area code to the north.