CCC PPPPP U U CCC N N EEEEE W W W SSS C C P p U U C C NN N E W W W S S C P P U U C N N N E W W W S C PPPPP U U C N N N EEE W W W W SSS C P U U C N N N E WW WW S C C P U U C C N NN E W W S S CCC P UUUU CCC N N EEEEE W W SSS CONTACT: Kyle DeVine February 6, 1997 CPUC - 510 213-897-4225 (R.95-04-043) CPUC ADOPTS AREA CODE SPLITS FOR 213, 408, 510 AND 714 The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) yesterday adopted area code splits for area codes 213, 408, 510 and 714. The Commission also decided that the 714 area will be split in April 1998, rather than the October 1997 date that local service competitors requested. 213/323 area code split Beginning in June 1998, the 213 "doughnut" split keeps 213 in the doughnut hole which has a 3-mile diameter centered in downtown Los Angeles. The communities surrounding the hole will get the new 323 area code. After the split, the newly-defined 213 area may be able to last seven years before it runs out of numbers and must be split again. The new 323 area may last 11 years. 408/831 area code split The 408 area code will split in July 1998. Santa Clara County will retain the 408 code along with very small portions of San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Alameda, and Stanislaus counties. Monterey, San Benito and most of Santa Cruz counties will use the new 831 area code. After the split, the new 408 area may last four years before it again runs out of numbers, and the 831 area may last 20 years. 510/925 area code split The 510 area code will split in March 1998. Generally, the area west of the Berkeley and Hayward hills - the I-80/I-880 corridor - will retain 510. The area east of the hills, the I- 680 corridor, will use the new 925 area code. With this split, the new 510 area may last five years before it again runs out of numbers, and the new 925 area may last 13 years. -more- 714/949 area code split The 714 area code will split in April 1998. Generally, the 714 code will serve Fountain Valley, Tustin and communities north of them in Orange County, and 949 will be used in Costa Mesa, Irvine and communities south of them in the county. With this split, the new 714 area may last four years, and the new 949 area may last 18 years. The 714 area code is running out of new prefixes. The lack of numbers may hinder companies new to the area from competing to provide local phone service there because they may not be able to get any numbers to give customers. To avoid this possibility, they asked the Commission to implement the split sooner than October 1997 so they could receive numbers sooner. However, the Commission decided to keep the April 1998 date because moving up the timing of the split would inconvience residential and business customers who have to notify friends and businesses of their new area code, change their equipment or order new stationary or advertising. An earlier date might also disrupt the telephone network because it may not give telecommunications companies nationwide enough time to program their systems to properly route calls to the new area code. Background Increased use of pagers, fax machines, cellular phones, computer modems, ATM machines and more companies competiting to provide local phone service is rapidly depleting telephone number supplies statewide. To accommodate this growth, the state's area codes will increase from 13 to 26 by the year 2000. This year alone, five new area codes will be implemented: - 562 in eastern half of the 310 area was implemented last January, - 760 will be used in northern and eastern portions of the 619 area in March, - 626 in eastern half of 818 will be used in June, - 650 will be in the southern portion of the 415 area beginning in August, and - 530 will serve part of the current 916 area beginning in November. The CPUC will set the boundary this spring. -###-