NOTICES
Relief Plan for the 570 NPA
[33 Pa.B. 4137] Public Meeting held
July 17, 2003Commissioners Present: Terrance J. Fitzpatrick, Chairperson; Robert K. Bloom, Vice Chairperson; Aaron Wilson, Jr.; Glen R. Thomas; Kim Pizzingrilli
Relief Plan for the 570 NPA; P-00961071F0002
Final Order By the Commission:
Before the Commission is a petition that was filed on behalf of the Pennsylvania telecommunications industry on July 19, 2000, for approval of a relief plan to implement all services distributed overlay in the 570 area code. By this Order, we are dismissing the petition.
Background
History of the 570 NPA
On June 28, 1996, the telecommunications industry asked the Commission to decide how to relieve the shortage of numbering resources in the 717 Number Plan Area (NPA or area code) as the industry could not reach a consensus. Accordingly, the Commission opened a docket at P-00961071 that ultimately led to the creation of the 570 area code on May 21, 1998. The 570 NPA was a geographic split1 of the 717 NPA and was activated on April 8, 1999. The geographic area covered by the 570 NPA is comprised of 21 northcentral counties and includes the Cities of Williamsport, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Stroudsburg.
Upon creation, the 570 NPA was projected to contain enough numbering resources to last for approximately 6 years before the entire NPA would exhaust. Unfortunately, this prediction was not accurate, and approximately 1 year later, the Commission was notified of the industry's consensus to implement an overlay over the 570 NPA by the filing of the petition currently before us.
On May 4, 2000, the industry was notified by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA)2 that relief planning for the 570 NPA was necessary. The unavailability of NXX codes3 in an area code for assignment to telecommunications carriers leads to the exhaust of the area code. At that time, the projected exhaust date of the 570 NPA was the first quarter of 2002. Under the Industry Numbering Committee Guidelines (INC Guidelines),4 the NANPA was required to prepare relief options for an NPA that was projected to exhaust within 36 months and to conduct an industry meeting with the goal of reaching industry consensus regarding the form of relief for the area code. Accordingly, a 570 NPA Relief Meeting was held on June 1, 2000, where the industry reached a consensus to implement an all services distributed overlay5 for the 570 area code.
On July 19, 2000, NeuStar, as the neutral third party NPA Relief Planner for Pennsylvania, 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 570.
On September 15, 2000, the Commission entered a Tentative Order at the previously captioned docket seeking comments from interested parties regarding what type of relief should be implemented in the 570 NPA and when this relief should be implemented. In response, Verizon Pennsylvania Inc., Verizon Wireless, Sprint Communications Company, L. P. and The United Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, the Office of Consumer Advocate, the Lycoming County Planning Commission, State Representative Keith R. McCall and the Northeast Delegation6 filed timely comments.
Because several of these commentators requested that the Commission schedule public input hearings to further discuss area code relief in the 570 NPA, we conducted four public input hearings on December 18, 2000, in Wilkes-Barre and December 19, 2000, in Williamsport. During these hearings, the Commission received testimony from State Representative Keith McCall, State Representative John T. Yudichak, Craig Rickard, Vincent Matteo, Howard Grossman, Mark Rutkowski, Henry O'Dell, David Hines, Ambrose Meletsky, Bill Kuklewicz, Mayor Thomas McCroarty, Jerry S. Walls, Allen Kaplin, Anthony Rampulla and Michael Ochs. Transcripts from these hearings were filed with the Commission on December 26, 2000, and January 3, 2001.
In addition to the testimony, the Commission received as exhibits letters from the following: R. Neil Henrie and Cora Maie Henrie, senior citizens from the Bloomsburg area; Representative John R. Gordner, State Representative from the 109th Legislative District; Ronald F. Kozma, Director of Columbia County Department of Public Safety; Natalie Duy, a citizen from Danville; Ed Edwards, President of the Bloomsburg Area Chamber of Commerce; Maureen E. Savitsky, a citizen from Danville; Crystal J. Fink, a citizen from Wilkes-Barre; and Gregory and Deborah Lutz, citizens from Mifflinville. Subsequently, other written comments were received by the Commission and filed in this docket. These comments were from State Senator Lisa Boscola, the Milton Area Chamber of Commerce and the Pocono Mountain Vacation Bureau.
Since the public input hearings, Pennsylvania NPAs, including 570, have experienced an unprecedented, efficient use of number resources due to the implementation of number conservation measures as 1,000-block number pooling7 and NXX code reclamation.8 The Commission implemented NXX code reclamation in the 570 NPA in August 2000, while mandatory 1,000-block pooling was implemented in February 2002.9 Furthermore, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated that all wireless carriers participate in pooling as of November 24, 2002.10 Presently, wireless carriers have implemented pooling and are participating in Pennsylvania's mandatory pools, including the pool in 570.
Projected Exhaust Date for the 570 NPA
Under the INC Guidelines, the NANPA is charged with the responsibility of predicting the expected exhaust period for an area code 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 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.
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.12 In May 2003, the NANPA revised the projected exhaust date for the 570 NPA to the third quarter of 2008. Because this most recent projected exhaust date falls outside the 5-year period in the INC Guidelines and because the area code is not in jeopardy, the NANPA filed a letter with the Commission dated June 17, 2003, informing us that the relief plan was eligible to be withdrawn.
Discussion
As previously mentioned, the 570 NPA has experienced an unprecedented, efficient use of numbering resources due in large part to the diligent efforts of the Commission and others to implement mandatory 1,000-block pooling and NXX code reclamation. Since March 2002, around the time when 1,000-block pooling was implemented in 570, only two NXX codes per month on average have been assigned in the 570 area code. During this same time period, to date, nearly 20 NXX codes have been returned to the NANPA for use by other carriers in the 570 NPA. In May 2003, the NANPA reported that approximately 200 NXX codes are available for assignment to carriers in 570.13 We believe that the decrease in code demands will continue in the 570 area code as 1,000-block number pooling continues and as unused NXX codes are reclaimed.
Based on our analysis of the current numbering resources in the 570 NPA, adequate resources exist for carriers to receive numbers in a timely fashion. Because of the current availability of numbering resources in 570, we believe there is good cause to dismiss the industry's petition for approval of its relief plan in the 570 NPA. The dismissal is consistent with the INC Guidelines, which specify that a relief plan may be withdrawn while the plan is pending, if it is determined that the projected exhaust date is more than 5 years away. This is exactly the case here with the most recent projected exhaust date of the third quarter of 2008 for the 570 NPA. INC Guidelines at § 5.10.
Moreover, we believe that the pending 570 relief plan is based on information that is outdated, which further warrants dismissal. As previously mentioned, the proposed relief plan for 570 was filed nearly 3 years ago in July 2000. Moreover, the comments regarding the proposed relief plan were filed in September 2000, while the public input hearings were held approximately 2 1/2 years ago in December 2000. Given the fluid nature of the numbering landscape including, inter alia, the more efficient allocation of numbering resources, the change of carriers doing business in Pennsylvania and the additional delegated numbering authority from the FCC, the Commission believes that more up-to-date information on the merits of the proposed 570 relief plan is needed. Based on the foregoing reasons, we dismiss the Neustar's relief plan for the 570 NPA.
As the case with relief planning for the 570 NPA illustrates, the situation in area codes is fluid and the implementation of number conservation measures can alleviate the need to activate new area codes. The long-term effects of activating new area codes will be monumental for the telephone industry and consumers. As a threshold matter, there is only a finite amount of available area codes. When all of the states activate all of these area codes, the entire telephone network infrastructure will need to be redesigned to dramatically change local and long distance dialing patterns. Consequently, a continued emphasis needs to be placed on monitoring the specific situation in each of Pennsylvania's area codes to ensure that all available number conservation measures are implemented prior to seeking area code relief.
Accordingly, we encourage the industry, the statutory advocates and the NANPA to work together with the Commission to ensure that new area codes are not unnecessarily opened in this Commonwealth when other viable alternatives are available. To this end, we direct that future petitions for NPA relief filed with the Commission contain an analysis of both the number conservation measures for that NPA as well as specific information about the utilization of the NXX codes in that NPA; Therefore,
It Is Ordered That:
1. Neustar's petition filed with the Commission on behalf of the Pennsylvania telecommunications industry at the previous docket for approval of its relief plan for the 570 area code is dismissed.
2. In any future petition for NPA relief that is filed with the Commission, the industry must delineate in specific terms what number conservation measures have been implemented in the NPA, the success of these measures and the reasons why those or other number conservation measures will not alone lengthen the life of the area code.
3. During the relief planning stages of any NPA, the industry is to cooperate with Commission staff to provide specific and detailed information about the utilization of NXX codes in the NPA to ensure that the NXX codes already assigned in that NPA are being used as efficiently as possible.
4. A copy of this order shall be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
JAMES J. MCNULTY,
Secretary1 A geographic split occurs when an existing area code is divided into two or more separate geographic areas where one area retains the existing NPA and the others receive new NPAs.
2 A NANPA is the entity that allocates numbering resources and monitors the viability of area codes to determine when the numbers available in the area code are nearing exhaust. The INC 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, Nov. 13, 2000, at § 5.5. If the industry reaches a consensus, the consensus plan is filed with the Commission. INC Guidelines at § 5.6. Under Federal rules, the Commission has ultimate authority to approve or deny a relief plan. 47 CFR 52.19. The NANPA is NeuStar, Inc.
The INC Guidelines are developed by the Industry Numbering Committee of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. The Industry Numbering Committee is a standing committee that provides an open forum to address and resolve industry-wide issues associated with the planning, administration, allocation, assignment and use of resources and related dialing considerations for public telecommunications within the North American Numbering Plan area. The guidelines and recommendations are used by the NANPA in the management of numbering resources.3 An NXX code comprises 10,000 telephone numbers in a specific area code and is identified by the second three digits in a telephone number. Traditionally, telephone numbers were assigned to carriers by NXX code. Once those 10,000 numbers of the NXX code were assigned to a carrier, they were unavailable for assignment to any other carriers.
4 INC Guidelines at §§ 5.0 and 5.5.
5 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. 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, ten-digit local dialing is required by Federal rules. 47 CFR 52.19(c)(3)(ii).
6 The Northeast Delegation is comprised of the following representatives: Phyllis Mundy, Luzerne County; John R. Gordner, Columbia County; Joseph W. Battisto, Monroe County; Fred Belardi, Lackawanna County; Robert E. Belfanti, Jr., Columbia/Montour/Northumberland Counties; Kevin Blaum, Luzerne County; Thomas R. Caltagirone, Berks County; Gaynor Cawley, Lackawanna County; Todd A. Eachus, Luzerne County; Robert Freeman, Northampton County; Richard T. Grucela, Northampton County; Edward J. Lucyk, Schuylkill County; Jennifer L. Mann, Lehigh County; Keith R. McCall, Carbon/Luzerne Counties; T. J. Rooney, Lehigh/Northampton Counties; Steve Samuelson, Northampton/Lehigh Counties; Dante Santoni, Jr., Berks County; Edward G. Staback, Lackawanna/Wayne Counties; Thomas M. Tigue, Luzerne/Monroe Counties; Jim Wansacz, Lackawanna County; and John T. Yudichak, Luzerne County.
7 Thousand-block number pooling is the process by which a 10,000 block of numbers is separated into 10 sequential blocks of 1,000 numbers and allocated separately to providers within a rate center.
8 NXX code reclamation involves the return of unused NXX codes to the NANPA. Within 6 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 CFR 52.15(g)(iii).
9 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). 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 570, which subsequently became mandatory at the direction of the FCC in the McCall Order.
10 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).
11 INC Guidelines at § 5.1.
12 INC Guidelines at § 5.10.
13 See the May 2003 Code Assignment Activity Report available on NANPA's website at http://www.nanpa.com.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 03-1616. Filed for public inspection August 15, 2003, 9:00 a.m.]
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