PUC FREEZES PHONE NUMBERS : REQUESTS DRAIN AVAILABILITY OF 3-DIGIT PREFIXES IN 3 AREA CODES.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. State regulators said Friday they have temporarily frozen the issuing of new three-digit telephone number prefixes in the 415 area code in Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern and the 310 and 619 area codes in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, because the supply of numbers is dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. . The freeze started June 19, the state Public Utilities Commission said. It will be lifted Aug. 19 in the 415 and 619 areas and Sept. 19 in 310, but may be followed by the rationing of new prefixes, the PUC (Public Utility Commission) A regulatory body in every state in the U.S. that governs public utilities within its jurisdiction such as electricity, gas, oil, sewer, water, transportation and telephone service. Some states call it the Public Service Commission (PSC). said. Responding to the proliferation of lines for faxes, pagers and cellular phones, the commission last week approved a split in the 415 area code in the San Francisco Bay Area “Bay Area” redirects here. For other uses, see Bay Area (disambiguation). The San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay , effective in a year. It had previously approved carving a new 562 area code out of the 310 area in Los Angeles County by early next year. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , the supply of unused prefixes is diminishing in both area codes as well as in the 619 area in San Diego County and southeastern California, the commission said. There are 10,000 phone numbers in a prefix. The 310 area has 53 prefixes left, the 415 area has 120 and the 619 area has 57, the PUC said. If prefixes have to be rationed, they will be limited to as few as three per month in an area code, meaning that some customers would not get new numbers when they requested them, the PUC said. A priority list for new numbers would start with phone lines used to protect the public health, other public service numbers, other service-oriented uses such as tow trucks and the news media, and the physically handicapped, the PUC said. Next in line would be new businesses and businesses with a below-average number of lines, followed by new residential customers and then by customers who want to add more lines. Rationing could last until October 1997 in the 310 area code, until May 1998 in the 415 area and until December 1997 in the 619 area, the commission said. It also said a lottery may be used to decide which competing phone companies get new prefixes. |
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