DATE:	May 19, 2005
TO:	Director, Division of the Commission Clerk & Administrative Services (Bayó)
FROM:	Division of Competitive Markets & Enforcement (Beard, Casey) Office of the General Counsel (Fordham)
RE:	Docket No. 990455-TL – Request for review of proposed numbering plan relief for the 305/786 area code - Dade County and Monroe County/Keys Region.
AGENDA:	05/31/05 – Regular Agenda – Interested Persons May Participate
CRITICAL DATES:		None
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:		None
FILE NAME AND LOCATION:		S:\PSC\CMP\WP\990455.RCM.DOC

 

 Case Background

By Order No. PSC-00-1937-PAA-TL, issued October 20, 2000, in Docket No. 990455-TL, the Florida Public Service Commission (Commission or PSC) approved relief plans for the 305/786 area codes (NPAs) for the Florida Keys (Keys).  The approved relief plan extended the existing 786 area code (which presently covers the Miami-Dade area) to cover the Keys region (See Table 1).  However, the Commission withheld the approval of implementation dates for this area code, pending the outcome of various number conservation measures.  Further, the Commission directed the Local Exchange Companies (LECs), in the affected area, to jointly file a notice and recommend, no later than October 1, 2001, the permissive and mandatory dialing periods.

On April 10, 2001, the LECs recommended that the permissive 7 or 10-digit local dialing period for the 305/786 should begin on August 1, 2001, and mandatory 10-digit local dialing should begin on November 1, 2001.  By Order No. PSC-01-1456-PCO-TL, issued July 11, 2001, the Commission approved a permissive 7 or 10-digit local dialing period[1] for the 305/786 area codes for the Keys beginning on August 1, 2001, but disagreed with the industry’s proposal to begin mandatory 10-digit dialing November 1, 2001 stating:

Since the number conservation measures have not been fully implemented, there is no evidence of how long the number conservation measures would extend the life of the 305 NPA once rate center consolidation and number pooling are implemented.

            The Commission directed staff to bring a recommendation for a revised mandatory 10-digit dialing date for the Keys in the future when a realistic exhaust date for this area could be determined with greater certainty.      

 

           

   

Table 1:   305/786 NPA areas

 

 

                                                                                       
Issue 1:  

Should this docket be closed?

Recommendation: 

 Yes, Staff recommends that this docket should be closed. Staff also recommends that the Commission request NANPA to add the 305 area code for the Keys to its “trigger points” report to notify the Commission 18 months in advance of the exhaust of the 305 area code over the Keys. (Beard, Casey, Fordham)

Staff Analysis: 

 As the inventory of available 305 central office codes in the Keys is anticipated to last until 2009, staff believes it is unnecessary for this docket to remain open.  At the time this docket was opened, the estimated exhaust date for the 305 area code over the Florida Keys was the third quarter 2001, and the North America Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) advised the Commission there were only 14 central office codes (140,000 numbers) left to be assigned.

Through the Commission’s pro-active number conservation measures of rate center consolidation[2], number pooling[3], and number reclamation[4] in the Keys, the estimated exhaust date has been moved from the first quarter 2001 to the second quarter 2009.  Currently there are 28 central office codes (280,000 numbers) available for assignment from NANPA, and 169 one-thousand number blocks (169,000 numbers) available for assignment from the number pooling administrator, for a total of 449,000 numbers now available for assignment in the Keys.

NANPA maintains a “trigger points” report for area code relief whereby it notifies state commissions and the industry when a certain date has arrived.  Staff recommends that the Commission request NANPA to add the 305 area code for the Keys to its “trigger points” report to notify the Commission 18 months in advance of the exhaust of the 305 area code over the Keys.  This will allow sufficient time to implement mandatory 10-digit dialing in the Keys and extend the 786 area code over the Keys as an overlay. Permissive 10-digit dialing which was effective September 1, 2001, will remain in place until that time.

Staff also believes that because the projected exhaust date of the 305 area code over the Keys is four years away, it is unnecessary to leave this docket open at this time, and recommends this docket be closed.