Agenda Date: September 22, 1999 Item Number: Docket: UT-990219 Company: Telecommunications-General “360" NPA Staff: Rebecca Beaton, Regulatory Consultant Glenn Blackmon, Assistant Director-Telecommunications David Griffith, Telecommunications Engineer Marilyn Meehan, Public Information Officer Recommendation: Monitor the implementation of the area code overlay by local telephone companies subject to Commission jurisdiction and focus on whether the industry is providing children and the elderly with appropriate education and information. Background On September 13, 1999, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), Lockheed Martin IMS, filed with the Commission the final plan to relieve the anticipated shortage of telephone numbers in the current 360 area code. New area codes are needed to meet the growing demand for additional telephone numbers in the 360 area code. The increased demand for telephone numbers results from regular telephones, wireless phones pagers, second lines used for fax machines, call center’s, modems for Internet access, and other uses. Additionally, new local telephone service providers need telephone numbers in order to provide service to their customers. Washington’s newest area code as proposed by industry will be an “overlay” to the current 360 area code and will serve the same geographic area. The term “overlay” is used when a second area code is added on top of the same geographic area as an existing area code. With an overlay, customers keep their current area code. New customers and new telephone numbers may be assigned the new area code. The 360 overlay will be the first implemented in Washington. Overlays have been adopted in many other parts of the country. Earlier this year an overlay solution to number exhaust was introduced in the Portland, Oregon area. Commission Staff anticipates that future area code expansion in the Pacific Northwest will be overlay solutions. Under FCC rules, ten-digit dialing is required for all local calls made within the geographic area of an overlay. Beginning February 5, 2000, customers in the 360 area will be able to dial ten or seven digits when placing a local call. However, beginning July 29, 2000, dialing ten digits, which is the area code plus the seven digit local number, will become mandatory. Process The overlay area code relief plan was adopted through a consensus process by the telecommunications industry in Washington, including both regulated and unregulated companies. Lockheed Martin, the national Numbering Plan Code Administrator, facilitated the process and provided the information necessary for industry to address the 360 exhaust. The 360 area code relief plan was developed through a series of industry meetings that began in April, 1999. The meetings addressed technical, consumer and communication issues around the anticipated exhaust of the 360 area code serving western Washington. The 360 area code was projected by the Code Administrator to exhaust by third quarter of 2000. The Commission’s public meeting is a procedural forum for consumers and industry members to express opinions and share information. Typically the Commission has not exercised jurisdiction over the need for new area codes, the request for their assignment, and the appropriate geographic boundaries of area codes. However, the Commission has always believed that the industry and the Code Administrator are in the best position to know when an area code will exhaust, what are the patterns of telephone number use, and when and where it is timely to apply for and assign new area codes. In previous area code exhaust situations, the Commission has relied on industry to use consensus to reach a decision for providing relief. Currently, there is FCC action pending to address state Commission concerns regarding authority and jurisdiction; access to industry information on number exhaust; and the right to mandate number pooling. Commission Staff (Staff) participated in all industry meetings, conference calls and subcommittee meetings addressing the exhaust situation. Because the jurisdictional issue of area code responsibility has not been resolved, the Commission Staff did not take an active role in the industry’s final decision. Staff would stress that customer issues should be a priority for the industry. Staff will continue to monitor progress as the new number plans are created and the transition is implemented. Staff recommends that the number administrator take steps in number (prefix) assignments such that impacts in the rural areas are kept to a minimum. Staff recommends the Commission monitor the regulated industry’s long-term solution to area code exhaust, the mechanics of the short-term implementation of that solution, specifics of customer education, education to primary schools and senior centers; and the customer care plan, request a quarterly report that includes media and customer correspondence until conclusion of the implementation of the new area code. Staff would stress a concern about industry allocation of appropriate funding to educate customers about the new area code and the new dialing patterns. In particular, Staff remains concerned about the information and education necessary to school age children. Staff recommends the Commission require the industry bring the education package, with the funding information included, to the Commission for review. Conclusion Staff recommends that the Commission continue to monitor the implementation of the area code overlay by local telephone companies subject to its jurisdiction, with a particular focus on whether the industry is providing elementary-school children and the elderly with appropriate education and information on the new dialing requirements.