AREA CODES RUNNING LOW ON NUMBERS.

Byline: Dawn Yoshitake Daily News Staff Writer

Southern California is bearing the brunt of a looming statewide phone number shortage that may leave residents and businesses with nothing but pay phones, cellular phones and answering services as the only calling options when seeking a new phone number.

Demand for new phone numbers - brought on by a surge in computer modems, pagers and fax machines - and a delay in issuing area codes before numbers run out are creating the crisis, industry watchers say.

This lack of new area codes puts a squeeze on freeing up new prefixes, and hence new phone numbers.

Trying to cope with the number shortage is Bruce Bennett, a Pacific Bell engineering manager who does double duty as the state's code administrator.

The code administrator, chosen from the largest local carrier in the state, monitors demand for area codes and issues new prefixes. The code administrator also dictates when phone number conservation measures are needed.

``There is a crisis in California for numbering,'' said Bennett. ``I know people expect phone numbers will always be there, so I would imagine this could be alarming. But this is an emergency situation.''

Although there still are sufficient numbers in the soon-to-be-split 818 area code that serves the San Fernando Valley, Bennett placed a temporary freeze last month on issuing new prefixes in the 310 area code in the western part of the Los Angeles area and in the 619 area code in the San Diego region.

A temporary freeze has been placed in the 415 area code in San Francisco as well.

The freeze means that any new phone numbers have to come from the declining supply of remaining prefixes or from numbers that become available when customers cancel their local phone service.

The trouble is that although there are enough numbers available for the near term, there are not enough to meet the demand for very much longer.

In fact, Richard Fish, a senior engineer with the California Public Utilities Commission, said it's likely phone numbers in the 310, 619 and 415 area codes will run out before new area codes are added. The state PUC determines which regions receive new area codes.

Fighting within the industry over how to dole out telephone numbers and state regulations requiring advance public notice before an area code is split into a new code has contributed to a delay in getting new area codes up and running, Fish noted.

Telephone carriers now must make do with the prefixes they currently hold and any unused numbers in those prefixes. Each new three-number prefix holds the capacity for 10,000 telephone numbers.

Once the freeze is lifted, the remaining new prefixes in the three area codes may be rationed out to telephone companies, or a lottery held if demand exceeds supply, say regulators.

But should available phone numbers fall short of meeting requests, a priority system will be used to determine who receives the precious numbers.

Emergency service agencies like fire and police departments are at the top of the priority list, while residential customers with no existing telephone service are second to last. Customers looking to add a second telephone line are at the bottom of the list.

And residents and businesses that fail to land a number may find themselves using such alternatives as pay phones and cellular phones until service cancellations free up existing phone numbers - or a new area code can be brought on-line for that region.

Telecommunications industry representatives and the California code administrator will meet next month to work out such alternatives and devise a plan to educate the public.

``We're looking into the availability of coin telephones in the 310 area code,'' said Joe Cocke, GTE regional industry affairs staff administrator. ``If it does get to the point where we are totally out of numbers and have gone through the priority list and still no numbers, there will be a contingency plan to get customers numbers.''

Meanwhile, cellular and wireless companies also are developing contingency plans for the state Public Utilities Commission.

Cellular companies say they have more flexibility than traditional phone companies in issuing numbers because their local calling area encompasses more than one area code.

``Even if we can't get numbers in the 310 area code, we can still offer those customers a cellular phone with a 714 or 213 area code,'' said Gwen Blakkan, business development project manager with AirTouch in Irvine. ``It may not be the most convenient for customers, but at least they'll still get phone service.''

``There are so many issues to resolve,'' said Blakkan. ``Someone has to make up the difference between the cost of a (traditional) phone call and a cellular call. Cost is a major issue and how it will be defrayed.''

Another alternative the industry is considering is using answering services to take and place messages for customers.

Customers would use pay phones or borrow the use of phones to get the messages and return them.

One consumer group, however, questions the severity of the crisis in light of the carriers' role in the delay of new numbers.

Nettie Hoge, executive director of Turn Toward Utility Rate Normalization in San Francisco, said the delay in new area codes and the potential hysteria it could create may be used to prompt regulators to favor Pacific Bell's method for allocating new numbers over the other carriers' proposals.

``I'm skeptical of the crisis, but that's not to say conservation measures and education is not important,'' Hoge said.

The freeze imposed in the 310, 619 and 415 area codes is one such conservation measure.

There are others.

For example, disconnected residential telephone numbers in affected areas are reused within in two months, rather than the usual six months. And business numbers are turned around within nine months or when the latest telephone book is released, whichever has the shortest time line, compared with the usual 12 months.

This means telephone customers looking to forward calls to their new number will have less time to do so, and individuals or businesses that receive recycled numbers may field calls for the former holder of the telephone number.

And as new prefixes are released, some of the numbers will mirror neighboring area codes. For example, the 310 area code may be assigned a prefix of 818 or 213. That could lead to confusion among callers, Bennett acknowledged.

Southern California is expected to continue its voracious appetite for new area codes into the coming years.

The 818 area code - which also serves the San Gabriel Valley - is expected to split in two by mid-1997. Part of the region - it has not been determined for sure which part - will get the new 626 area code.

Pacific Bell has proposed that the San Fernando Valley keep its 818 area code and that Burbank, Glendale and the San Gabriel Valley get the new code.

However, the proposal is not a sure thing. Protests have surfaced.

The cities of Burbank and Glendale want to remain in the 818 area code. And some San Gabriel Valley cities, led by Monterey Park, also want to keep the 818 area code. A decision by the Public Utilities Commission is expected by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the 310 area code is expected to be split with the new area code 562 starting operation in January. In the San Diego area, the 619 area code also will split with the 760 area code debuting by March.

The area codes of 213 in Los Angeles, 714 in Orange County, 415 in San Francisco and 916 in Sacramento are expected to undergo splits next year, although no target months have been set.

California is not alone in its dilemma.

Other states have launched conservation measures, including Massachusetts, Texas, Connecticut and Ohio. Nationwide, the 640 remaining area codes are expected to be depleted by 2020.

Back in 1947, California originally started off with three area codes - 213, 415 and 916. The state has since split into 13 area codes, with eight of the splits branching off of the 213 area code.

And what happened during this nearly five-decade run?

The 1950s saw the formation of five new area codes to accommodate newly built suburbs and newer technology.

The following two decades, surprisingly, had no new area codes. The population continued to grow, but no new significant demands were placed on the system, said Andrea Cooper, numbering technology manager for Pacific Bell in San Ramon.

``We didn't really have fax machines, pagers and cellular phones like we do today,'' she said.

But that technology came on full bore in the 1980s and through the 1990s. And five new area codes were added during this time.

The passage of the Telecommunications Act earlier this year is expected to shorten the supply of telephone numbers, Cooper said. She noted the new law allows long-distance carriers and cable companies to enter the local market - and they must be assigned prefixes when building their own network.

Competitors, however, disagree that they'll be the cause of the drain on telephone numbers.

``I think its a smokescreen to what's been (the local carriers') monopoly. The reason we're running out of numbers is because people are demanding more than one line in their home. It has nothing to do with local competition,'' said Diane Schwilling, an AT&T Corp. spokeswoman.

The dwindling supply of telephone numbers will not keep long-distance carriers out of the local market, Schwilling said. She noted AT&T initially plans to buy its numbers from the existing supply held by local carriers and then resell them to consumers. Other carriers entering the local market with plans to build a network are required to obtain prefixes - of which there is a temporary freeze in the state's largest, urban cities.

``Ultimately our plans will include some network construction,'' Schwilling said. ``I don't think the lack of prefixes will dictate whether we'll build them. If there's a problem, we may allocate our resources in another area first.''

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2 Maps

Map: (1--color) California (with Area Codes)

THE GREATER L OS ANGELES AREA (with Area Codes)