PUC Adopts Third Area Code For Twin Cities

Donna Halvorsen / Star Tribune

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission made it official Tuesday: The Twin Cities will get a third area code on Jan. 1, 2001.

The new 952 code will be used in Minneapolis, Richfield and Fort Snelling.

By speeding up its decision-making process, the PUC will give telephone users in those areas a year -- from Jan. 1, 2000 to January 2001 -- of "permissive dialing" in which to get used to the code.

Phone users in St. Paul and eastern suburbs have had only 5½ months of permissive dialing for their new 651 code. That period began in July and will end Jan. 10, when the new code takes effect.

Although the PUC has said for some time that a third code would be needed, the quicker-than-expected adoption of the code took some people by surprise.

The commission hadn't intended to take up a third code until the middle of next year, or to make a decision before Jan. 1, 2000. But a series of orders by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made earlier action necessary, said PUC Chairman Edward Garvey.

Garvey said he wants more public input on the 952 code than the commission received on the 651 code.

The approval process for the second code "wasn't so pleasant from my perspective, and it wasn't so pretty from anyone's perspective," he said.

Both new codes were adopted as a way of dealing with burgeoning demand for new phone numbers. But Garvey said anyone with a better idea than the plan the commission adopted Tuesday can bring it forward in the next six months.

U S West made it clear Tuesday that it will argue for a different solution.

Scott Brener, U S West's public policy director, said the phone company wants an "overlay" system in which all new phone customers in the 612 area would have the 952 area code.

He said people seem to be afraid of 10-digit dialing, which that plan would require for all calls, but he said longer phone numbers may become the norm if area codes continue to be introduced in the Twin Cities.

"The more we slice and dice the metro area, the more confusing it will be," he said.

But August Blegen, of the Minnesota Senior Federation, said the "overlay" system also would be confusing, especially to seniors, because Minneapolis numbers could be in either the 952 or 612 area code.

When the 651 code was adopted, Minneapolis and western suburbs kept the 612 code that had been used in the entire metro area for years.

Blegen said he was concerned about the effect of the new codes on the elderly, who might have "stiff fingers and poor eyesight."

He said that while 10-digit dialing may be the wave of the future, "We shouldn't subject consumers to dialing new digits until there is no alternative."

Those arguments will continue into June, when the PUC will make its final decision.

Phone companies, including U SWest and its local competitors such as Ovation Communications and MCI, then will have six months to gear up their systems. During the one-year period of permissive dialing, callers can use either the old 612 code or the new 952 code. After Jan. 1, 2001, only the new code will work.

Before the commission approved the new code, Garvey criticized both the FCC and the telephone industry. He said FCC requirements for early planning "handcuffed" Minnesota in its effort to deal with the area code problem, and the industry did not do a good enough job of conserving numbers, which might have forestalled the need for a third area code.

"I'm not happy about being in this situation," he said.

Garvey said his plan, as approved by the PUC, was intended to comply with the latest FCC order as well as to "crystallize the issues" and "offer as much certainty to the citizenry as possible."

Blegen, of the Senior Federation, said his group was instrumental in shaping plans for the 651 area code and will be involved in decision-making on the third code as well.

"We're always puzzled as to why there aren't other consumer groups weighing in on this," he said.

Before the PUC makes its final decision in June, a new traffic study will be conducted to determine metro calling patterns. A previous study showed that most calls are made close to home. If those calls are in the same area code, customers would have to dial only seven digits for many of their calls.

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