PCIA To FCC: Give States More Numbers, Less Dialing

Communications Today, Nov 21, 2000

The FCC's existing number-conservation measures aren't enough to convince the Personal Communications Industry Association that wireless telecom businesses won't be slowed by a dearth of telephone numbers in some markets.

The PCIA, along with AT&T Wireless Services [AWE], Nextel Communications [NXTL], Verizon Wireless and VoiceStream Wireless [VSTR], last week asked the FCC to allow states to enact overlay area codes without requiring 10-digit dialing.

A law passed by Congress in 1995 requires all calls made in overlay area codes, and in the areas that are overlaid, to be 10-digit calls.

"The states are reluctant to take on opening up new area codes whether it's by a split or by an overlay," said Harold Salters, the PCIA's director of government relations.

The PCIA is asking the FCC to grant waivers from the 10-digit rule for states that elect to use overlays. "Because of that rule, states have been reluctant to do overlay area codes," Salters said.

Wireless carriers, including paging service providers, are facing number exhausts in some markets without plans for new area codes, either overlays or splits, he added. Removing the 10-digit requirement could convince more markets to deploy overlay codes, which would help ensure the wireless industry's continued rapid growth.

"We think that this is a proactive way to recognize states' concerns, but at the same time to break up the log jam on area-code relief," Salters said. "Wireless has the highest growth rate of any segment of the industry, but this proposal is also attractive to the CLEC industry because it provides area-code relief."

Wireless operators have indicated that numbering depletion is particularly troublesome in California, New England states and New York, he said. "This is a problem that's going to demonstrate itself in more areas," Salters said.

Prior to the 1995 law requiring 10-digit dialing in overlaid areas, telecom providers in several markets were allowed to continue 7-digit dialing services after overlay codes were deployed in some areas. Calls between the new and the overlaid codes were 10-digit calls, but calls within each of the codes were made dialing seven digits.

The waivers proposed by the PCIA would expire when the numbering resource administrator managing an overlay code is forced to distribute to service providers 1,000-number blocks from that code, or no later than November 2002, when wireless carriers are required to meet number portability requirements.

The FCC in March gave all states the authority to use 1,000-block number pooling for carriers equipped for local-number portability to slow the depletion of telephone numbers. However, mobile providers won't receive 1,000-number blocks until they are required to offer number portability to customers in November 2002.

Using smaller blocks conflicts with existing systems for routing phone calls, which were designed for use with numbers dispersed in 10,000 blocks. This conflict forces carriers participating in number pooling to also provide number portability so calls will be connected.

Malcolm Spicer