PUC Hearing on Area Codes Is Put On Hold

A Sept. 2 hearing on controversial area code overlays in the 818 and 310 calling areas has been postponed two weeks to allow Public Utilities Commission members more time to study the issue, officials said Friday.

The delay was called for by PUC Commissioner Joel Hyatt, who wants to further consider the effects of overlays on residents and business owners, and to mull alternative area code relief plans, officials said.

“We have officially asked for a hold on the 310 and 818 area codes,” said Kim Malcolm, an advisor to Hyatt. “The commissioner is concerned about overlays and splits. He is educating himself, and he is looking into alternatives.”

Requests for delays by commissioners are typically granted without opposition from other commission members, officials said.

The PUC is now scheduled to consider the overlay proposals at its regular meeting, set for 10 a.m. Sept. 16 at the commission’s San Francisco headquarters.

This is the second time the commission has deferred action on the 818 overlay since June 30, when an administrative law judge recommended the plan to the PUC over an alternative plan to split the 818 area code in the San Fernando Valley.

Initially, the five-member panel was set to hear the matter Aug. 5, but the agenda item was deferred until Sept. 2 to allow for a town hall meeting on the issue.

In the case of the 310 area code, state regulators released a draft ruling Aug. 3 that would resume plans for an overlay, despite last-minute resistance from callers in West Los Angeles and the South Bay.

A tentative decision was written by PUC Commissioner Henry Duque, but is not final, and another commissioner may come forward with an alternative at the panel’s Sept. 16 meeting.

While acknowledging the inconvenience of overlays, Duque said opposition came too late to avoid a change in 310, where telephone number prefixes have been rationed for nearly two years.

A new area code--424--was to be added July 17 to cover the same geographic region now served by 310, but regulators delayed implementing the plan to consider objections by Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles).

Since then, Knox has introduced legislation to rescind the 310 overlay, ban all overlays and splits and create separate area codes for electronic devices that require phone lines.

Consumer advocates say Hyatt’s request to delay action on the 310 and 818 overlays signals that the commissioners are giving serious consideration to California’s first area code overlays.

“When stuff is moved on and off an agenda, it means that alternatives are being discussed,” said Regina Costa, telecommunications research director for the Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco-based consumer rights group.

“I know they are very concerned about telephone issues,” she said, “and some members hate overlays and would do anything to avoid overlays.”

Commissioners Hyatt and Wood have publicly stated their opposition to overlays, saying they would prefer alternatives to relieve the number crunch. Commissioners Duque, Josiah Neeper and Richard Bilas have not publicly taken a position.

The PUC is seeking permission from the Federal Communications Commission to institute more efficient ways to allocate phone numbers, such as reducing from 10,000 to 1,000 the amount of numbers issued to phone companies at a single time.