NOTICES
Relief Plan for the 717 NPA
[41 Pa.B. 6848]
[Saturday, December 17, 2011]Public Meeting held
December 1, 2011Commissioners Present: Robert F. Powelson, Chairperson; John F. Coleman, Jr., Vice Chairperson; Wayne E. Gardner; James H. Cawley; Pamela A. Witmer
Relief Plan for the 717 NPA; P-2009-2136951
Final Order By the Commission:
Before the Commission is a petition that was filed on behalf of the Pennsylvania telecommunications industry on October 20, 2009 for approval of a relief plan to implement an all services distributed overlay in the 717 area code. In October 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the updated projected forecasts prepared by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) for Pennsylvania's ten area codes. Given that the projected forecast for the exhaustion of the 717 area code has been extended from the previously reported date of the third quarter of 2012 to the fourth quarter of 2016, we are dismissing the 717 area code relief petition filed on October 20, 2009.
Background
History of Area Code Relief for the 717 NPA
A. The Geographic Split of the 717 Area Code
The 717 NPA is one of Pennsylvania's original four area codes. On June 28, 1996, the telecommunications industry asked the Commission to decide how to relieve the shortage of numbering resources or NXX codes in the 717 NPA as the industry could not reach a consensus.1 The unavailability of NXX codes2 for assignment to telecommunications carriers in a given area code leads to the exhaust of that area code. Accordingly, the Commission opened a docket at P-00961071 that ultimately led to the geographic split of the 717 NPA in 1999.3 Accordingly, the 717 NPA presently includes all or part of the following counties: Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks, Fulton, Franklin, Cumberland, Adams, York and Lancaster.
B. The May 29, 2001 Industry Relief Plan
Despite the area code relief that had just been implemented for the 717 NPA in the prior year, in May of 2000, the telecommunications industry was advised by the NANPA,4 Neustar, Inc., in its role as the neutral third party NPA Relief Planner for Pennsylvania, that relief planning for the 717 NPA was again necessary in light of the fact that the area code was expected to exhaust by the second quarter of 2001. Relief planning was necessary under the INC Guidelines,5 which provide that when the projected exhaust date of an area code is to occur within 36 months, the NANPA is required to prepare relief options and to conduct an industry meeting with the goal of reaching industry consensus regarding the form of relief for the NPA.
On February 20, 2001, Neustar notified the industry that a meeting was necessary to discuss relief alternatives for the 717 NPA. The meeting was convened on April 18, 2001. After discussion of several alternatives, the industry reached a consensus to adopt an all services distributed overlay6 as the form of relief for the 717 NPA. However, by that time, the projected exhaust date for the 717 NPA had been pushed forward to the fourth quarter of 2003, which was still within the 3-year time-period required by the INC Guidelines. Accordingly, On May 29, 2001, Neustar, acting on behalf of the Pennsylvania telecommunications industry, filed a petition with the Commission requesting approval of its relief plan to implement an overlay for the geographic area covered by 717 NPA.
On September 5, 2001, the Commission entered an Order at the above-captioned docket seeking comments from interested parties regarding what type of relief should be implemented in the 717 NPA and when this relief should be implemented.
While the May 29, 2001 industry relief plan was pending before the Commission, the 717 NPA experienced an unprecedented and efficient use of numbering resources due to the implementation of 1,000-block number pooling7 and other number conservation measures such as NXX code reclamation.8 Furthermore, the FCC mandated that all wireless carriers participate in pooling as of November 24, 2002.9 Presently, wireless carriers implemented pooling and were participating in Pennsylvania's mandatory pools, including the numbering pool in 717.
As a result of these number conservation measures, in May of 2003, the NANPA again revised the projected exhaust date for the 717 NPA to the fourth quarter of 2007, which was now more than four years away. Consequently, by Order entered April 1, 2003, the Commission dismissed the May 29, 2001 industry relief plan.
C. 2009 Relief Planning for the 717 NPA
The April NRUF (Number Resource Utilization Forecast) and NPA Exhaust Analysis April 24, 2009 Update (''April 2009 NRUF Report'') indicated that the 717 NPA would exhaust during the third quarter of 2012. Based upon the projected exhaust date, NANPA notified the Commission and the Industry on July 1, 2009, that NPA relief needed to be addressed. The Industry met via conference call on September 10, 2009, to discuss various relief alternatives.
At the September 10th meeting, the participants discussed the attributes of the relief alternatives presented by Neustar in the IPD and reached consensus to recommend to the all services distributed overlay plan as the preferred method of relief for the 717 NPA. All existing customers would retain the 717 area code and would not have to change their telephone numbers. Consistent with FCC regulations, the relief plan would require ten-digit dialing for all calls within and between the 717 NPA and the new NPA. The industry recommends that all local and toll calls between the 717 NPA and the new NPA be dialed as 10-digits, or permissively as 1+10 digits at each service provider's discretion. All local and toll calls originating in the 717 NPA or the new NPA and terminating in other NPAs (NPAs other than the 717 or new NPA) must be dialed as 1 +10 digits. Operator services calls would require customers to dial 0+10 digits.
Industry participants also had reached consensus to recommend to the Commission a thirteen-month schedule for implementation of the overlay. The recommended schedule was as follows:
Recommended Implementation Schedule for All Services Distributed Overlay
Event
Timeframe Network Preparation Period 6 months Permissive 10-Digit Dialing and Customer Education Period
(Calls within 717 NPA can be dialed using 7 or 10 digits)
Mandatory dialing begins at the end of the Permissive Dialing Period6 months First Code Activation after end of Permissive dialing period
(Effective date for codes from the new NPA)1 month (after Mandatory Dialing Date) Total Implementation Interval 13 months The Industry stated that adhering to the proposed timeframe would avoid the denial or delay of service to telecommunications providers' customers due to the unavailability of CO codes.
On October 24, 2009, Neustar, acting on behalf of the Pennsylvania telecommunications industry, filed a petition with the Commission requesting approval of its recommendation to implement an all services distributed overlay for the geographic area covered by the 717 NPA which would create a new area code to service the area. By Order entered December 24, 2009, the Commission requested the submission of any written comments on the relief plan and scheduled public input hearings throughout the entire 717 geographic region10 so that oral testimony related to the form of relief for the 717 NPA can be received from interested parties as well. The Commission denied the industry consensus recommendation for an all services distributed overlay relief plan for the 717 NPA, pending receipt of the comments. The Commission has taken no further action on the petition.
Since those public input hearings were held, Neustar has updated its projected forecasts for the exhaustion of the Pennsylvania area codes, including 717. In October 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released those updated projections. Based on the new data, the forecasted exhaust dates for the 717 area code has been extended from the previously reported date of the third quarter of 2012 to the fourth quarter of 2016.
Discussion
Pursuant to the INC Guidelines, the NANPA is charged with the responsibility of predicting the expected exhaust period for an NPA by analyzing the historical growth data available for the NPA as well as any expected changes to the NXX demands in the future.11 As previously stated, once the NANPA projects the exhaust date for the an NPA to occur within 36 months, the INC Guidelines require it to prepare relief options and to conduct industry meetings with the goal of reaching industry consensus regarding the form of relief for the NPA.
However, since the filing of the October 24, 2009 area code relief petition, the 717 NPA has experienced efficient use of numbering resources due in large part to the diligent efforts of the Commission and others to conserve our numbering resources. Currently, there are approximately 96 NXX codes available for assignment to carriers in the 717 area code. Furthermore, from October 2009, when the 717 area code relief petition was filed, through October 2011, or approximately 25 months, an average of 0.760 codes per month were assigned to carriers. We believe that the decrease in code demands and subsequent code assignments will continue in the 717 area code.
Section 5.11 of the NPA Code Relief Planning and Notification Guidelines provides that if during the period after the NANPA has filed an industry relief plan but prior to regulatory approval of that plan it is determined that the NPA will not exhaust in the next 5 years, a relief plan may be withdrawn. Since the new projected exhaust date of the 717 area code is approximately five years out, which is the requisite period of time specified in INC Guidelines for withdrawing a filed relief plan, we believe there is good cause to dismiss the NANPA's petition for approval of its relief plan in the 717 NPA pursuant to our delegated authority over NPA relief. 47 CFR 52.19(c) (3)(ii).
Additionally, based on our analysis of the current numbering resources available in the 717 area code, adequate resources exist for carriers to receive numbers in a timely fashion. Nevertheless, we encourage the industry and the NANPA to work together with the Commission to ensure the efficient use of our finitie numbering resources in the 717 area code so that new area codes are not unnecessarily opened in the Commonwealth. Based on the foregoing reasons, we dismiss the October 24, 2009 relief plan for the 717 NPA; Therefore,
It Is Ordered That:
1. Neustar's petition filed with the Commission on behalf of the Pennsylvania telecommunications industry at the above docket for approval of its relief plan for the 717 area code is dismissed.
2. A copy of this order shall be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and on the Commission website.
ROSEMARY CHIAVETTA,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 11-2168. Filed for public inspection December 16, 2011, 9:00 a.m.] _______
1 A consensus is established when substantial agreement has been reached. Substantial agreement means more than a simple majority, but not necessarily unanimity. CLC Principles and Procedures, May 1998, at § 6.8.8.
2 An NXX code comprises 10,000 telephone numbers in a specific area code and is identified by the second set of three digits in a ten-digit telephone number, NPA-NXX-XXXX.
3 The geographic split of the 717 NPA resulted in the creation of the 570 NPA. See Petition of NPA Relief Coordinator Re: 717 Area Code Relief Plan, Docket No. P-00961071 (Order entered May 21, 1998).
4 The NANPA is the entity that allocates numbering resources and monitors the viability of area codes to determine when all of the telephone numbers (or NXX codes) available in the area code are nearing exhaust.
5 The Industry Numbering Committee Guidelines provide that when an area code is nearing exhaust, the NANPA, which then becomes the NPA Relief Planner, convenes a meeting of the industry to discuss relief alternatives. NPA Code Relief Planning & Notification Guidelines, INC97-0404-016, reissued Nov. 8, 1999, at § 5.5. If the industry reaches a consensus, then its consensus plan is filed with the Commission and the Commission has an opportunity to take action at that point. NPA Code Relief Planning & Notification Guidelines, INC97-0404-016, reissued Nov. 8, 1999, at § 5.6.
6 An overlay is when a new area code is introduced to serve the same geographic area as the existing area code. NPA Code Relief Planning & Notification Guidelines, INC97-0404-026, June 21, 2002 at § 6.3. With the overlay method, 10-digit local dialing is required by federal rules. 47 CFR § 52.19(c)(3)(ii).
7 Thousand-block number pooling is the process by which a 10,000 block of numbers is separated into ten sequential blocks of 1,000 numbers and allocated separately to providers within a rate center. See Petition of Representative Keith R. McCall and Members of the Northeast Delegation of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Requesting that Additional Authority be Delegated to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to Implement Additional Number Conservation Measures, CC Docket No. 99-200 and NSD-L-01-113 (Order released December 28, 2001) (McCall Order). By order entered on August 9, 2001 at Docket No. M-00001427, the Commission, with the consensus of the industry, ordered the implementation of a voluntary pool in 717, which subsequently became mandatory at the direction of the FCC in the McCall Order. Accordingly, the Commission implemented mandatory 1,000-block pooling in the 717 NPA in March of 2002.
8 NXX code reclamation involves the return of unused NXX codes to the NANPA. Within six months of receiving an NXX code, a carrier must assign at least one number to an end user or the entire NXX code must be returned to the NANPA. 47 C.F.R. § 52.15(g)(iii). The Commission implemented NXX code reclamation in the 717 NPA in August of 2000.
9 In the Matter of Verizon Wireless' Petition For Partial Forbearance From the Commercial Mobile Radio Services Number Portability Obligation and Telephone Number Portability, WT Docket 01-84, CC Docket No. 95-116 (Order adopted July 16, 2002).
10 Public input hearings were held in Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Gettysburg and Chambersburg.
11 INC Guidelines at § 5.1.
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
