Tulsa World On-Line

Number's Up: State Due 2 New Codes

By Shaun Schafer World Staff Writer
5/22/97

"An extra phone line, a modem, a pager, a beeper -- these all take numbers."
-- John Gray
Oklahoma Corporation Commission

Oklahomans' hunger for phone-related gadgets is devouring the numbers available under the state's two area codes and will lead to the creation of two more area codes to meet needs.

The 405 area code, which includes Oklahoma City, is nearing the exhaustion of possible number combinations, and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is hurrying to get rules in place to handle another area code.

John Gray, senior assistant general counsel for the commission, said 405 will run out of numbers at its current rate of use by the third quarter of 1998. The 918 area code, which includes Tulsa, should run out of numbers in the first quarter of 2001, Gray said.

"An extra phone line, a modem, a pager, a beeper -- these all take numbers," Gray said. "And people keep adding them."

Numbers could be gobbled up even faster as local calling opens up to competition, as promised by the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. An incoming local provider generally reserves a block of 10,000 phone numbers, Gray said. While there was no statistical breakdown on the numbers already in use, local competition will speed the demise of numbers available in the 405 and 918 areas, Gray said.

"We need an order issued by the first of July" for 405, Gray said. The process to install a new area code takes about 18 months, leaving little time in the 405 area, he added.

The two entities watching over the state's phone numbers -- the Oklahoma Central Office Code Administrator and the Numbering Plan Area Relief Coordinator -- filed an application with the corporation commission to deal with the exhaustion of 405 numbers. The commission, which has been busy meeting other deadlines under the Telecommunications Act, is collecting testimony from providers, such as Southwestern Bell, and other interested parties, Gray said.

An administrative law judge is scheduled to hear a summary of the evidence on June 23 and issue an oral recommendation to the commission. Any appeals or requests for approval of the judge's recommendation will be presented to the corporation commission on June 26, with the commission's ruling to follow.

There are two ways to provide more numbers, and whichever one is chosen in the 405 area will affect Tulsa and the 918 area. A new area code can overlay an existing one, or an area can be divided, with one section keeping the old number and the other receiving a new one.

Both methods have been used in recent years. In the Chicago area an overlay was instituted when reports showed that the area code for suburban Chicago would run out of numbers. Since 1996, that suburban area has been served by 708 and 630 area codes, simultaneously. When the San Francisco Bay Area started to run out of 415 numbers in the late '80s, the area was divided. The city of San Francisco kept the 415 numbers and the new 510 area code covered phones outside of the city limits.

In Oklahoma City, the local service companies favor dividing the existing 405 area rather than bringing in an overlay number, Gray said.

"All providers of local exchange are pretty much in agreement on what should be divided," Gray said. "There's an agreement that Oklahoma City should have one number and everybody else should have another.

"The question is, who gets which?"

Oklahoma City and Tulsa have the two largest Wide Area Calling Plans in the nation, with each measuring more than 4,200 square miles. In the 405 case, that area would be left intact and would have only one area code, either 405 or a new code, Gray said. Calls within the wide area plans are toll-free calls.

In similar fashion, Tulsa's Wide Area Calling Plan, which stretches from Henryetta to Ochelata, and from Snug Harbor to Jennings, would receive one area code. Whether it keeps the existing number or gets a new area code will probably be determined by whatever decision is made in the 405 area, Gray said.

"Nine-one-eight will be a little easier because we will have already done it once in Oklahoma," Gray said. "It's still probably a year or so" before work will start on rules in this area.

Running out of 405 number combinations marks only the latest change wrought by the boom in telecommunications. In January 1995, residents making long distance calls in the same area code started dialing the area code along with that number. For instance, prior to that date a call from Tulsa to Miami was made by dialing a "1" followed by the number.

That change was made as number combinations filled up in the other area codes. From 1947 to 1995, U.S. area codes contained a "0" or a "1" as the middle number in the three-digit codes. That restricted area codes to 152 combinations, and to meet the rising demand for phone numbers, the middle digit was opened in 1995 to include any number from "2" through "9."

Bellcore, the administrator of the number system used in North America and parts of the Caribbean, said the change added 640 area codes to the system and would be adequate to meet needs through 2025.

Number's Up: State Due 2 New Codes

Subscribe to the Tulsa World; Report a missing Newspaper; Place an Ad in the Tulsa World; email the newsroom; or the Webmaster.