NOTICES
PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION
Generic Investigation Regarding Virtual NXX Codes; Doc. No. I-00020093
[34 Pa.B. 2965] Public Meeting held
March 4, 2004Commissioners Present: Terrance J. Fitzpatrick, Chairperson; Robert K. Bloom, Vice Chairperson; Glen R. Thomas; Kim Pizzingrilli; Wendell F. Holland
Generic Investigation Regarding Virtual NXX Codes; Doc. No. I-00020093
Order By the Commission:
Before us is an Investigation Report submitted by Presiding Administrative Law Judge Debra Paist regarding the issue of Virtual NXX Codes.1 The use of Virtual NXX code arrangements is a relatively recent phenomenon that has impacted states across the country. The purpose of the Investigation Report was to gather information regarding the impact that this numbering practice may have on numbering conservation measures across the Commonwealth.
Background
Traditionally, customers are assigned telephone numbers based on their physical location. When a telephone company receives a group of telephone numbers (NXX codes) to operate, those numbers are associated with a particular switch residing in a rate center2. Consequently, when the telephone company assigns a telephone number to its customer, it assigns the customer a telephone number associated with the particular switch serving the rate center where the customer is physically located. The purpose of this historical assignment procedure by telephone companies was to ensure the integrity of the rating structure so that calls between customers located in different rate centers may be properly billed by the telephone company as local flat rate, local measured rate or toll.
Virtual NXX codes allow a customer to obtain a telephone number in a local calling area in which the customer is not physically located. As far as the person calling the number is concerned, the call is a local call if the caller resides in the same area, but the party answering the call is actually located outside of the local calling area of the caller. This type of arrangement is referred to as ''virtual'' because the customer assigned to the telephone number has a virtual presence in the associated local calling area, not a physical one.3
In August 2002, during another proceeding4, the issue of Virtual NXX codes was raised. Recognizing that the use of Virtual NXX codes throughout the country was highly controversial5 and might have an impact on numbering conservation efforts, we initiated a generic on-the-record proceeding to further investigate Virtual NXX codes. See Generic Investigation Regarding Virtual NXX Codes, I-00020093 (Order entered October 8, 2002) (Investigation Order). The Investigation Order was published on October 19, 2002, at 32 Pa.B. 5240.
As set forth in the Investigation Order, we directed all interested parties to file comments that addressed the following issues related to Virtual NXX codes:
1. How many carriers in the Commonwealth are actively utilizing Virtual NXX arrangements?
2. In what exchanges in Pennsylvania are Virtual NXX codes being utilized?
3. What are the benefits of these arrangements to customers and the telephone companies using them?
4. Are there any detriments to customers and telephone companies in using Virtual NXX code arrangements?
5. What is the impact, if any, that Virtual NXX code arrangements have on number conservation?
6. How many customers utilize this service to provide in-coming local calling from exchanges outside of the customers' local calling areas?
7. What is the impact that Virtual NXX code arrangements have on the deployment of local number portability in Pennsylvania?
8. What are the compensation arrangements among carriers for the use of Virtual NXX codes?
9. What are the billing and technical issues that are present when attempting to rate calls by their geographical starting and ending points; and
10. Any other issues that are deemed necessary and relevant to the investigation.
Further, we directed the Office of Administrative Law Judge (OALJ) to conduct the investigation and ordered that the investigation culminate with an Investigative Report regarding the use of Virtual NXX codes in the Commonwealth. The proceeding was assigned to ALJ Debra Paist. By Secretarial Letter dated October 8, 2002, the following three questions were added into the investigation proceeding:
1. Is the current use of Virtual NXX codes contrary to, or authorized by existing statutes or regulations?
2. If the current use of Virtual NXX codes is not contrary to, or authorized by existing statutes or regulations, what policy should the Commission establish?
3. How does the current utilization of Virtual NXX codes compare--legally and from a policy standpoint--to the utilization of foreign exchange service offered by the Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers?
Discussion
On February 9, 2004, ALJ Paist issued the Investigation Report to us. The Investigation Report delineates the parties' positions and will be a valuable educational tool for the Commission as we continue to focus on the use of Virtual NXX Codes. As noted by the Investigation Report, Virtual NXX Codes are currently being utilized in the Commonwealth, yet no direction regarding their use has been provided by the Commission. The parties themselves sought such direction when addressing the Commission's questions such as the compensation arrangements and related technical and billing issues.
Conclusion
We wish to thank the OALJ and all parties who participated in this proceeding. The use of Virtual NXX Codes in Pennsylvania could have significant ramifications for the public as well as the telecommunications industry. Consequently, it is not only appropriate but necessary for the Commission to determine whether any regulatory or policy changes are warranted, Therefore,
It Is Ordered That:
1. The Commission shall accept and make public the February 9, 2004 Investigation Report of Administrative Law Judge Paist regarding the use of Virtual NXX code arrangements in Pennsylvania.
2. The Law Bureau, in conjunction with the Bureau of Fixed Utility Services, shall submit a recommendation to the Commission indicating whether any regulatory or policy changes should be implemented regarding the use of Virtual NXX Codes.
3. A copy of this Order shall be served upon all parties who filed comments in the proceeding.
4. A copy of this Order shall be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and published on our website.
JAMES J. MCNULTY,
Secretary______
1 A NXX code represents the three digits following the area code in a 10-digit telephone, i.e., NPA-NXX-XXXX. A NXX code contains 10,000 individual telephone numbers. Traditionally, telecommunication carriers received fill NXX codes (or 10,000 individual numbers) in order to provide telecommunications service. In those areas in which thousand-block number pooling has been implemented, carriers receive telephone numbers in blocks of a thousand (or 1K portions of the fill NXX code).
2 A rate center is a telephone-company designated geographic area which is assigned a vertical and horizontal coordinate within an area code for the determination of toll rates.
3 Virtual NXX codes are primarily used by competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) to give their customers a wider local calling area.
4 Level 3 Communications, L.L.C. v. Marianna Scenery Hill Telephone Co. at Docket No. C-20028114.
5 Some telecommunications carriers, mostly incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECS), asserted that use of Virtual NXX codes amounts to the improper use of finite numbering resources and they noted that the Maine Public Utility Commission recently addressed the issue of Virtual NXX codes when it directed the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) to reclaim the codes that Brooks Fiber used to provide ''unauthorized interexchange service'' as opposed to ''facilities-based local exchange service.'' See In Re: Investigation into Use of Central Office Codes (NXXs) by New England Fiber Communications, LLC d/b/a Brooks Fiber, Docket No. 98-758, Maine PUC Order dated June 20, 2000. Additionally, it was noted that the Federal Communications Commission initiated a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proceeding which requested comments on the use of Virtual NXX codes by telecommunications carriers. See In the Matter of Developing a Unified Intercarrier Compensation Regime, CC Docket 01-92, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 16 FCC Rcd 9610 (2001).
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 04-992. Filed for public inspection June 4, 2004, 9:00 a.m.]
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