Regulators Urged to Put Area Code Overlay on Hold

The message from residents and business owners attending a town hall meeting Thursday night on a controversial area code relief plan for the San Fernando Valley was unmistakably clear: Delay the overlay.

About 65 people gathered in the auditorium at the State Building in Van Nuys to question state regulators about their plans to implement an area code overlay that would require all callers in the Valley to dial 11 digits for local calls.

State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) convened Thursday’s meeting to give Valley telephone users the chance to question state regulators about the plan. Alarcon and Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles) called for delaying any overlay for at least one year.

“If we make no changes at all, we will have sufficient numbers for another year,” Alarcon said, citing state estimates of the number supply. “I don’t believe that sufficient evidence has been presented to move forward on an overlay or split.”

Public Utilities Commissioner Carl Wood said he wants to delay the 818 overlay until he is presented with irrefutable evidence that there is a number shortage.

Telecommunications providers say an overlay is necessary to accommodate a surge in demand for additional phone lines for computer modems, fax machines, cellular phones and pagers.

But critics point out that no one knows how many numbers are actually being used, since numbers are allocated to phone companies in blocks of 10,000, and phone companies refuse to say how many of their numbers are assigned. Critics want telephone companies to open their books to prove claims that they are running out of numbers in the 818 calling area.

The overlay issue will probably be taken up again at the panel’s regular meeting Sept. 2, when the commission could approve an overlay, a split of the 818 territory or another alternative.

The overlay is being supported by Pacific Bell and GTE Corp., which say it is preferable to splitting 818 into two area codes. Neither company had representatives speak at Thursday’s meeting.

In other action Thursday, Knox and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) sent a letter to PUC chief Richard Bliss urging him to drop plans for an overlay area code in West Los Angeles and the South Bay.