Public Meetings Scheduled For
323 Area Code Relief in Southern California

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Public meetings will be held September 29 and 30 to receive public comments regarding upcoming area code relief in the 323 area code in southern California, according to the Communications Industry Services (CIS) division of Lockheed Martin IMS, which serves as the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA).

A new area code could be introduced in the 323 area as early as July of 2001. Customers in the 323 area code, which includes portions of the city and county of Los Angeles surrounding the downtown area, as well as the communities of Alhambra, Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Commerce, Huntington Park, Inglewood, Maywood, Montebello, Monterey Park, South Gate, South Pasadena, Vernon and West Hollywood, are invited to share their views regarding proposed area code relief plans during the public meetings, which are scheduled as follows:

Wednesday, September 29, 1999 1:00 p.m. South Gate City Council Chambers 8650 California Avenue South Gate, CA

Wednesday, September 29, 1999 7:00 p.m. South Pasadena City Council Chambers 1424 Mission Street South Pasadena, CA

Thursday, September 30, 1999 1:00 p.m. Los Feliz Branch Library 1874 Hillhurst Avenue Los Angeles, CA

In April 1999, NANPA announced that area code relief would be needed for the 323 area code within 30 months. The 323 area code is projected to run out of available prefix codes during the 4th quarter of 2002. This is due, in part, to an increase in competition in the local phone service market, the growing demand by the public for additional telephone numbers, and a technical requirement in the phone network that allocates phone numbers in blocks of 10,000.

The area code relief plans will not affect the cost of placing a call.

Following the public meetings, NANPA officials will meet with the telecommunications industry to review the public input before forwarding the industry's recommendation to the California Public Utilities Commission, which has final approval for the plan.

Area code relief activities for the 323 area code are administered by CIS, which was selected by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to serve as the NANPA. NANPA is a neutral, third-party administrator that is responsible for area code relief planning and oversees the assignment of area codes, three-digit central office codes, carrier identification codes, and other numbering resources throughout the United States, Canada, Bermuda and 16 Caribbean countries.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin IMS