WASHINGTON-California regulators Thursday did something they have never done before. They created an area-code overlay for Beverly Hills. Beginning Aug. 26, 2006, celebrities wanting second, third and fourth phones may find themselves with phone numbers beginning with 424 rather than the fashionable 310 area code.
“The beauty of going to an overlay code is that no one ever has to change his or her phone number again. No one has to change his or her stationery,” said Michael Altschul, CTIA general counsel and senior vice president. Altschul said that currently there are insufficient numbers in some parts of 310 to avoid incurring mobile-to-wireline toll charges.
Residents living in 310 will need to dial 11 digits, even for local calls, beginning in 2006. It is unclear why California has instituted 11-digit (1+area code+number) rather than usual 10-digit dialing (area code+number). Californians have resisted strongly more than seven-digit dialing, although some areas of the country have had 10-digit dialing since the last century.
“We have made every effort possible to avoid a split or overlay, and for quite some time, our number-conservation efforts held off the need for a relief plan. The overlay approved today is the first time this form of area-code relief has been used in California, and we made this decision after vigorous debate over its merits vs. a geographic split,” said Michael Peevey, chairman of the California Public Utilities Commission.
Opponents of the overlay tried to stall the CPUC’s vote, pointing to a statement released late Wednesday by the Federal Communications Commission that it will allow California to create two technology-specific overlays as long as it does not include wireless in the TSOs. The new area codes will be given for northern and southern California and are envisioned to be assigned to devices that talk to other devices, such as automatic teller machines and credit-card readers, rather than devices used by humans.
The wireless industry cheered when the stall tactic did not work.
“Today’s decision by the CPUC ensures that telecom customers in Southern California will be able to obtain the services they want,” said Thomas Sugrue, vice president of federal affairs for T-Mobile USA Inc. “Granting area-code relief can be a difficult decision.”
