847 Residents Spared New Area Code as ICC Adopts
CUB Number Conservation Plan Instead

02:21 p.m Dec 16, 1998 Eastern

CHICAGO, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) Wednesday commended state regulators for halting the phone industry's plans to create a new area code in the suburban 847 region and for adopting the consumer group's plan to conserve phone numbers in the Chicago area, a plan the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has deemed the national test for halting the spread of new area codes.

The ruling requires all phone companies in the 847 area code, and eventually in the entire Chicago metropolitan region, to conserve phone numbers and return the millions of unused phone numbers they have stockpiled. And for the first time, the commission has said it plans to penalize companies that don't comply with the order.

The phone industry had wanted to impose a new area code and 11-digit dialing for all local calls in 847 by April 17, but Wednesday's ruling puts that plan on hold indefinitely. The ruling also should put the brakes on the industry's plan for new area codes in 630, 708, 773 and 312, since it orders phone companies to begin conserving numbers in those area codes as well. The industry wants to have new codes in place in those regions beginning in June, 1999.

If the phone companies fully comply with the ICC's ruling, the 847 area code could last at least four more years. And technological advances over the next few years could delay the need for new codes even further.

While CUB Executive Director Martin Cohen praised the ICC's ruling, he warned that the industry has made it clear it wants to derail the number conservation plan.

"Left to its own devices, the phone industry will continue to hoard and waste phone numbers," Cohen said. "In order for the ICC's ruling to really put a stop to the proliferation of new area codes, the commission and its staff will have to strictly enforce it and levy tough penalties on the companies that don't comply."

Under the ruling, all phone companies operating in the Chicago area will have to provide quarterly reports with the ICC detailing their actual phone number utilization data. Based on these reports, the commission will be able to determine if companies are in compliance with the number conservation measures and penalize those in violation.

In August, CUB analyzed phone number utilization data for 847 and found that only half of the available numbers, 4 million out of 7.92 million, in the area code were actually in use by customers or otherwise unavailable. The bulk of the remaining numbers were being hoarded by the phone companies.

CUB's study also found that despite a May ruling by the ICC, which told phone companies to return their unused numbers, less than 25 percent of the wasted numbers had been turned in. And that number has increased to only 33 percent since August.

Wednesday's ruling adopts most of the recommendations made by CUB during the last six months of litigation in the 847 case. An industry plan to create new area codes in the remaining suburbs and in Chicago is pending before the ICC. CUB will be challenging that plan as well.

CUB is a statewide, non-profit utility watchdog organization created by the state legislature to represent the interests or utility ratepayers. CUB represents consumers' interests before the ICC, in the courts and before the state legislature. The organization is funded solely by contributions from consumers across the state. SOURCE Citizens Utility Board

Copyright 1998, PR Newswire