State Regulators Suspend Debut of 424 Area Code in 310 Region

Bowing to a torrent of complaints from West Los Angeles phone customers, state regulators on Thursday temporarily delayed the debut of a new area code in the 310 region to allow time for further review.

The new overlay area code--424--was to be launched July 17 to serve the same geographic area covered by 310. Since April, residents and businesses in that region have been dialing 11 digits on every call in preparation for the dual-area code system.

In its unprecedented decision, the state Public Utilities Commission suspended the 424 start date indefinitely. The action halts the issuance of phone numbers using the new area code, but does not reverse the existing requirement to dial the full number (1 + the area code + the number) within 310.

While frustration has mounted statewide over the rapid-fire addition of new area codes, Thursday’s vote marks the first time California regulators have been sufficiently swayed by public sentiment to consider changing course.

“For the last three months, citizens in Los Angeles have had direct experience with 11-digit dialing . . . and they expect that this commission will listen to their views,” said PUC Commissioner Henry Duque, who will oversee the issue. “There is no question in my mind that this matter deserves a second and close look by the commission.”

The 310/424 relief plan, set in motion more than a year ago, was the first overlay approved in California. Other overlay plans are in the works throughout the state, and many major cities nationwide have overlay codes.

The PUC action comes two weeks after Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-Los Angeles), Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and others filed a petition asking the commission to suspend--and ultimately reverse--the 310 overlay.

State regulators pledged to review the issue and make a final decision “as quickly as possible,” but they did not set a deadline for action.

“It is a terrific step forward,” Knox said after the PUC vote. “Los Angeles is the world headquarters of area code chaos, and we have sent a message that we are not going to take it anymore.”

Phone companies opposed the delay, arguing that it could create a phone number shortage in the vast 310 region--an area that stretches from Malibu to West Hollywood on the Westside and from Lynwood to San Pedro in the South Bay.

Many phone companies have already acquired 424 phone numbers in anticipation of the area code’s introduction in three weeks.

“This really stops us in our tracks,” said Karen Potkul, vice president of legal affairs for Nextlink Communications, an upstart phone company serving businesses. “We have new customers in some areas where we don’t have any 310 numbers.”

Demand for phone numbers has been exploding. But much of the number crunch can be traced to the phone industry’s own wasteful system, which requires phone companies to accept phone numbers in blocks of 10,000 numbers--equal to an entire prefix. The system is inefficient and has made it difficult for new competitors to do business in 310, where prefixes have been rationed for two years.

Many phone companies and regulators say Knox’s last-minute effort is too late to save the 310 region from an area code change.

Josiah Neeper, the only PUC commissioner to vote against the overlay suspension, warned 310 residents and businesses that they will probably end up with the same choice: stick with the 424 overlay, or face a geographic split, which would divide the 310 region and force some communities to change codes altogether.