PRINTER'S NO. 2921
No. 2228 Session of 2000
INTRODUCED BY MAYERNIK, McCALL, PIPPY, ARGALL, BELFANTI, DRUCE,
FAIRCHILD, FRANKEL, GORDNER, HARHAI, JOSEPHS, MANN,
MICHLOVIC, MUNDY, SCRIMENTI, SEYFERT, STEELMAN, TIGUE,
TRELLO, WALKO, WILLIAMS AND YOUNGBLOOD, FEBRUARY 7, 2000
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FEBRUARY 7, 2000
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, further authorizing the commission to
3 provide for telephone number conservation.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 66 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
8 § 531. Telephone number conservation.
9 (a) Authority of commission.--The commission is hereby given
10 the authority to provide for the conservation and efficient
11 assignment of telephone numbers within the NPAs of this
12 Commonwealth. The commission shall seek the assistance and
13 participation of telecommunications companies in its
14 conservation efforts and shall require that all such
15 participating telecommunications companies provide for the
16 efficient management of telephone numbers and for future
17 reclamation of unused telephone numbers.
1 (b) Regulations.--No later than April 1, 2000, the
2 commission shall adopt and promulgate regulations to govern
3 telephone number conservation. Such regulations, to the maximum
4 extent practicable, shall:
5 (1) Provide for the implementation of number pooling in
6 locations where local number portability (LNP) has been
7 implemented. Such regulations shall be consistent with
8 telecommunications industry guidelines on NXX code
9 administration. The regulations may:
10 (i) Direct all participating NXX code holders with
11 numbers assigned to the NPAs in this Commonwealth, or any
12 subsequent NPA assigned to Pennsylvania, to assign
13 telephone numbers from a single thousand block within an
14 NXX until that thousand block is within 60 days of
15 exhaust; that is, until all numbers in that thousand
16 block are assigned to an end user or are unassignable or
17 reserved due to internal testing, number aging/cooling or
18 planning.
19 (ii) Permit such NXX code holder to assign telephone
20 numbers in a thousand block differently from that
21 thousand block described in subparagraph (i) where,
22 except for the circumstances described in subparagraph
23 (i), such assignment does not result in the creation of
24 multiple contaminated blocks within an NXX code.
25 (iii) Permit an NXX code holder to fill a bona fide
26 request for a consecutive block of telephone numbers
27 which cannot be met by the vacant numbers of the thousand
28 block currently being utilized for assignment, even if
29 the creation of multiple contaminated blocks within an
30 NXX may result. Such a request may be submitted to meet
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1 Private Branch Exchange (PBX) requirements.
2 (iv) Upon implementation of any number pooling
3 between telecommunications companies in this
4 Commonwealth, require NXX code holders participating in
5 pooling to make uncontaminated thousand blocks available
6 to the appropriate administrator for possible
7 reassignment to other providers in a number pooling
8 process.
9 (v) Ensure that all NXX code holders provide
10 services in a manner which does not encourage the
11 inefficient use or depletion of telephone numbers in any
12 NPA in this Commonwealth.
13 (vi) Provide for the issuance of a waiver to any NXX
14 code holder seeking relief from number pooling
15 requirements.
16 (vii) Ensure that any regulations governing number
17 pooling do not unduly favor or disfavor any particular
18 segment of the telecommunications industry and that
19 numbering resources are available for any
20 telecommunications company that does not have local
21 number portability technology to participate in number
22 pooling.
23 (viii) Include a plan to ensure that a certain
24 number of NXX codes in a new area code is not assigned
25 and reserved for number pooling.
26 (2) Provide for individual number pooling and unassigned
27 number porting. Except, that, any regulations promulgated by
28 the commission to govern unassigned number porting shall
29 ensure that the integrity of the local calling area will not
30 be compromised and that public safety will not be jeopardized
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1 by permitting telecommunications companies to port unassigned
2 telephone numbers among themselves.
3 (3) Provide for NXX code rationing. To develop
4 regulations to govern NXX code rationing, the commission
5 shall collaborate with the central office code administrator.
6 If deemed appropriate by the commission and the central
7 office code administrator, such regulations may include a
8 usage threshold that each telecommunications company must
9 meet in its NXXs before it may obtain another NXX in the same
10 rate center.
11 (4) Provide for rate center consolidation. Such
12 regulations may include incentives to encourage incumbent
13 local exchange carriers (ILECs) to voluntarily combine rate
14 centers for the purpose of improving telephone number
15 utilization.
16 (c) Scope of authority.--The delegation of authority to the
17 commission pursuant to this amendatory act is not intended to
18 encroach upon the authority of the FCC to regulate numbering
19 administration. The intent of this amendatory act is to
20 facilitate the efficient use of telephone numbers as a public
21 resource in this Commonwealth. To the extent that the authority
22 herein granted to the commission exceeds the authority granted
23 to the states by the FCC, the commission shall petition the FCC
24 for an additional grant of authority to implement the telephone
25 number conservation measures in this Commonwealth as authorized
26 under this act.
27 (d) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
28 words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
29 subsection:
30 "Central Office Code." The second three digits (NXX) of a
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1 ten-digit telephone number in the form NPA-NXX-XXXX, where N
2 represents any one of the numbers two through nine and X
3 represents any one of the numbers zero through nine.
4 "Central office code administrator." The entity or entities
5 responsible for central office code administration in each area
6 code, as designated by the FCC.
7 "Contaminated block." Any thousand block of telephone
8 numbers where more than 10% of the numbers in the block have
9 been assigned to subscribers.
10 "FCC." The Federal Communications Commission.
11 "Incumbent local exchange carrier" or "ILEC." Any local
12 exchange telecommunications carrier that was engaged in the
13 provision of telecommunications services on the date of
14 enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-
15 104, 110 Stat. 56, 47 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.).
16 "Individual number pooling" or "INP." The allocation of
17 individual telephone numbers within the same NXX to different
18 telecommunications companies, and possibly different switches,
19 within the same rate center.
20 "Local exchange carrier." A carrier authorized by the
21 commission to provide local telecommunications service.
22 "Local Number Portability" or "LNP." The ability of users of
23 telecommunications services to retain, at the same location,
24 existing telecommunications numbers without impairment of
25 quality, reliability or convenience when switching from one
26 telecommunications company to another.
27 "Number Plan Area" or "NPA." The first three digits of a
28 ten-digit telephone number in the North American Numbering Plan
29 (NANP), commonly referred to as the area code. NPAs are
30 classified as either geographic or nongeographic.
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1 "NXX code holder." Any telecommunications company that has
2 been assigned at least one central office code by the central
3 office code administrator.
4 "Rate center." A geographic area used by telecommunications
5 companies to distinguish rate boundaries within an NPA or area
6 code.
7 "Rate center consolidation." The combining of several
8 adjacent rate centers into fewer rate centers.
9 "Telephone number pooling." A telephone numbering
10 administration and assignment process which allocates numbering
11 resources to a share reservoir associated with a designated
12 geographic area or rate center. Telephone number pooling may
13 include individual telephone number pooling, thousand block
14 number pooling and unassigned number porting.
15 "Thousand block number pooling." The allocation of blocks of
16 sequential telephone numbers within the same NXX code to
17 different telecommunications companies, and possibly different
18 switches, within the same rate center, for example, numbers NXX-
19 1000 through NXX-1999 constitute a thousand block.
20 "Unassigned number porting" or "UNP." A numbering allocation
21 resource which permits telecommunications companies to transfer
22 unused telephone numbers among themselves for assignment to
23 specific customers.
24 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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