Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday urged the state Public Utilities Commission to rescind 11-digit dialing and halt the 424/310 area overlay, calling the area code change premature at best and possibly unnecessary.
The governor's request came as the Federal Communications Commission granted state utilities regulators permission to implement number-conservation measures that backers say will greatly diminish the need for area code splits and overlays, including one proposed for the 818 area code in the San Fernando Valley.
Both developments came on the eve of today's meeting of the PUC in San Francisco, where commissioners are scheduled to vote on implementing the overlay in West Los Angeles and the South Bay.
Davis made his request in a letter to Public Utilities Commissioner Joel Hyatt, who released a draft decision earlier this month calling for a rollback of the 310 overlay. Davis appointed Hyatt to the five-member commission this year.
"In Los Angeles, residences and businesses have been subjected to a complicated and costly 11-digit dialing scheme," Davis wrote, "and face the prospect of more confusion as additional area code splits and overlays are imposed."
Davis scolded the PUC for its decision to create an overlay without first determining how many unused numbers exist within the 310 area code.
"This has left L.A. running short of available numbers while we lack the basic facts about how many unused numbers exist," Davis wrote. "All unused 310 numbers should be used first before deciding to create complicated and costly new area code splits."
Davis said he supports the number-conservation measures approved by the FCC and that they should be acted upon immediately.
In Wednesday's action, the FCC gave the state commission authority to reduce the amount of numbers allotted to telephone companies at one time from 10,000 to 1,000. Critics contend that the number shortage claimed by phone companies is partly due to companies hoarding numbers to maintain a competitive edge.
The FCC also granted the PUC authority to conduct number utilization studies when splits or overlays are proposed.
Additionally, state regulators now have the power to reclaim unused prefixes and portions of those prefixes for placement in a single pool for distribution and to require phone companies to give out numbers in sequential order.
