State Panel Votes to Delay Split of 818 Area Code

In a show of support for its newly adopted number conservation program, the state Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to keep the 818 area code intact and institute a split only after all available phone numbers are exhausted.

The commission’s action, on a 3-2 vote, marks the second time in less than a month that the panel has chosen number conservation measures over a split or overlay.

Commissioners first asserted their broader powers granted by the Federal Communications Commission when they voted Sept. 16 to kill the 424 overlay planned for the 310 area code on the Westside and instead enforce several complex area code preservation plans.

At Thursday’s session, Commissioner Joel Z. Hyatt said his proposal answered cries for reform from consumers and politicians.

“We have witnessed a public uproar that said, ‘You have inconvenienced us in an important aspect of our lives,’ ” Hyatt said. “They concluded, and I agree, that industry indifference, government inefficiency and regulatory complacency were not sufficient justification for change.”

Hyatt’s plan called for an 818 split, but only after all conservation measures are exhausted. An area extending from Chatsworth to Glendale would keep 818, while communities from Agoura Hills to Van Nuys would get a new area code.

Hyatt said he received assurances from industry executives that they will comply with state regulators’ orders to preserve area codes as long as possible.

PUC analysts will examine phone companies’ books to determine whether all available numbers have been exhausted in 818.

They also will reduce the amount of phone numbers assigned to phone companies from blocks of 10,000 to blocks of 1,000 numbers. Unused numbers will be placed into a single pool for redistribution.