X. Assignment of Proceeding
Loretta M. Lynch is the Assigned Commissioner and Thomas R. Pulsifer is the assigned ALJ in this proceeding.
1. All reasonable steps have been taken to ensure efficient utilization of numbering resources in the 909 area code.
2. An area code relief plan needs to be adopted and initiated at this time due to the impending exhaustion of NXX codes in the 909 NPA, which the NANPA projects will occur in the fourth quarter of 2003.
3. It is in consumers' best interests that an independent staff verification of carrier-reported number utilization be made prior to our considering adopting a back-up plan for area code relief.
4. While the FCC declined to grant a statewide waiver of the 10% contamination rate for purposes of thousand-block donations, it did permit an
increase the contamination level to 25% on a interim basis in the 310 and 909 area codes while the Commission implements area code relief in those areas.
5. The FCC concluded that the additional thousand-blocks made available by increasing the level of contamination from 10% to 25% will extend the life of the 909 area code by an additional one month.
6. The Area Code Relief Coordinator convened a series of meetings with the telecommunications industry planning team in May 2002 to develop updated relief alternatives for the 909 NPA, which were narrowed to two alternative options: (1) an all-services overlay; and (2) a two-way geographic split.
7. An additional series of public and local jurisdiction meetings were held by the Commission in July 2003 to present and gather input on the proposed updated 909 area code relief plan alternatives.
8. Geographic Split Alternative #1 is preferable to other geographic split options because it best preserves communities of common interest within the same area code, and minimizes the number of new area codes.
9. The Commission has stated in D.96-08-028 that before an overlay could be approved, there must be reasonable assurance that permanent LNP would be fully implemented before the overlay became operational.
10. Without permanent LNP, an overlay in the 909 NPA would not be competitively neutral.
11. In order to approve an overlay for the 909 NPA, permanent LNP must be in place by the date the overlay would take effect.
12. Absent the availability of LNP, customers subject to an overlay might have to change area code merely as a result of changing service providers, placing CLCs at a competitive disadvantage.
13. Pub. Util. Code Section 7931's requirement for a permissive and mandatory dialing period only applies where existing area codes are changed as part of a relief plan to acquaint customers with the area code change.
14. D.96-12-086 required mandatory 1+10-digit dialing within the region subject to an overlay to prevent an anticompetitive dialing disparity between customers of competing carriers who lacked equivalent access to prefixes in the old area code.
15. D.96-12-086 required that a customer education program be instituted at least 12 months before an overlay would take effect, explaining the new mandatory 1+10-digit dialing requirements and the overlay plan to the public.
16. D.96-12-086 directed that, upon activation of the overlay area code, customers who dial seven digits hear an instructional recording informing them of the 1+10-digit dialing requirement.
17. D.96-12-086 identified certain minimum elements to be included in the customer education plan, including an explanation why mandatory 1+10-digit dialing is necessary, and assurance that the change in their dialing patterns will not affect the rates charged for calls.
18. The results of the consumer preference poll reviewed in D.96-12-086 must be evaluated in light of the increasing hardship of cumulative changes in area code, and the difficulty in fairly devising successive splits of the same NPA over time.
19. As the 909 NPA faces further shrinkage in the current proposal for code relief, the drawing of boundaries that minimize the splitting of local communities becomes increasingly difficult.
20. An overlay avoids the contentiousness of drawing new NPA boundaries by leaving existing boundaries intact, and avoids the need for existing customers to change their existing telephone number area code.
21. Over the long-term, overlays tend to divide communities inasmuch as communities will not be identifiable by a single area code. Over the long term, this effect may be more pronounced than the community rifts that are introduced by area code splits.
22. A geographic split creates economic hardships particularly on affected businesses which must notify customers of area code changes, and change business cards, letterheads, advertisements, etc.
23. With an overlay, geographic boundaries no longer define a single area code thereby eliminating the advantage of having geographically-defined area code boundaries as a means of identifying and unifying communities of interest.
24. A business may consider an assignment of the overlay NPA less desirable than the original NPA, since customers may perceive the business with the new NPA to be newer or less established than the neighboring business that retains the more recognized original NPA.
25. With an overlay, customers will experience the loss of seven-digit dialing for calls within the same NPA.
26. In the consumer preference surveys reviewed in D.96-12-086, customers placed significant value on the ability to dial only seven digits for calls within the NPA.
27. Although customers in the 909 NPA may already be accustomed to dialing 1+10 digits for a portion of their calls, the overlay will still require them to learn that calls within the same area code also require 1+10-digit dialing.
28. With the overlay, customers with multiple lines at the same location seeking to add additional lines may only be able obtain the additional lines under the new area code, resulting in two area codes at the same location.
29. While both the overlay and geographic split have certain adverse impacts, a geographic split overlay will have less overall adverse impacts than the alternative proposed for the 909 NPA.
30. Since paging carriers cannot participate in thousand-block number pooling, the enhanced number utilization efficiencies being realized by number pooling participants does not apply to paging carriers.
1. All reasonable efforts have been pursued to maximize the life of the 909 area code before proceeding with implementation of a new area code.
2. A plan for a new area code in the 909 area should begin implementation immediately in view of the impending exhaustion of numbering resources.
3. The adopted relief plan should be the alternative which best satisfies the criteria applied by the industry team in their selection of relief alternatives, namely:
a. Minimize end users' confusion.
b. Balance the cost of implementation for all affected parties.
c. Provide that customers who undergo number changes shall not be required to change again for a period of eight to 10 years.
d. Not favor a particular interest group.
e. Cover a period of at least five years beyond the predicted date of exhaustion.
f. Provide that all of the codes in a given area shall exhaust about the same time in the case of splits. In practice, this may not be possible, but severe imbalances, for example, a difference in NPA lifetimes of more than 15 years, should be avoided.
g. Comply with state and federal statutes, rulings and orders.
4. In order to qualify for approval, an overlay plan must meet the minimum criteria established by this Commission and by the FCC for competitive neutrality at the date by which the overlay would take effect.
5. Given the uncertainties associated with design of an effective customer education plan, coupled with past customer survey preferences favoring splits, a geographic split is preferable to an overlay for the 909 area code.
6. The adoption of the proposed Alternative #1 geographic split for the 909 NPA best satisfies the prescribed criteria for competitive neutrality, and provides the best overall solution based upon the relief planning criteria applied by the industry team.
7. The proposed Alternative #1 plan should be approved in accordance with the terms and conditions adopted in the order below.
8. As a condition of approving the 909/951 area code split, the existing 909 thousand-block number pooling should continue to apply to all numbers assigned in the 951 area code (except for paging companies) concurrently with its opening.
9. Paging companies holding numbers in the 909 area code should not be required to change those numbers to the 951 area code because in D.03-04-056, paging companies were excluded from the provisions regarding reversal of grandfathering.
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. The proposed geographic split for the 909 Numbering Plan Area (NPA), identified as Alternative #1, as presented by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) is hereby approved. The geographic boundaries and rate centers to be assigned to the new area codes are as designated in Appendix A.
2. The NANPA and the telephone corporations, including paging companies and resellers, are hereby ordered to proceed with all due diligence to expeditiously implement the approved 909 area code relief plan, to take effect under the following schedule:
Event: |
Dates: |
Start of Permissive Dialing |
July 17, 2004 |
Start of Mandatory Dialing and Recorded Announcement |
October 30, 2004 |
First Code Activation Using New Area Code |
February 27, 2005 |
3. The NANPA shall promptly notify the carriers in the 909 area code regarding the new 951 area code to be assigned. The notice shall set forth the above-adopted schedule, and shall specify the areas covered by the old and new area codes.
4. Each telephone corporation, excluding paging companies, serving the geographic area covered by the existing 909 NPA shall give written notice to its affected customers of the adopted 909 area code relief plan without delay and no later than 120 days from the effective date of this order. The notice shall set forth the schedule for permissive and mandatory dialing periods as associated with the geographic split portion of the adopted relief plan.
5. The NANPA shall provide nationwide notification of the adopted 909 NPA relief plan no later than 30 days from the effective date of this order.
6. The Telecommunications Division and Consumer Services Division, in cooperation with the Public Advisor, shall monitor the customer notification process concerning the 909/951 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.
7. The existing 909 area code thousand-block number pooling shall continue in effect and apply to all numbers assigned in the 951 area code (except for paging companies) concurrent with the opening of the new area code, with NeuStar, Inc. serving as Pooling Administrator.
8. Carriers are directed, to the extent possible, to continue playing the special recorded message instructing the caller to dial the new 951 area code for one year following the end of the mandatory dialing period, or until such time as the prefix is assigned in the 951 area code.
9. 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.
10. All 909 area code numbers assigned to rate centers designated to change to the new area code shall be required to use the new area code in accordance with D.03-04-056. No grandfathering of 909 numbers in the 951 area code shall be permitted.
11. 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 909) in the new 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 new 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).
12. The Director of TD is hereby delegated the task of reviewing the current lottery allotment and readjusting the allotment of prefix codes for the 909 area code between the lottery and the number pool as appropriate.
This order is effective today
Dated _____________, at San Francisco, California.
