Idaho's 208 Area Code

[Tom Trail <ttrail@moscow.com>]

Several weeks ago a constituent sent me an e mail concerning the Idaho 208
Area Code issue.  I
sent the inquiry to the IPUC.  Here is their reply.  First, Idaho's 208
Area Code is projected to
exhaust in the early 2003.  These projections are heavily based on how many
prefixes, or the corresponding "block" of 10,000 numbers that come with
such prefix, have been requested in
Idaho over recent years.  The process of tracking prefix consumption and
forecasting an area code's exhaust is administered by the FCC by the North
American Numbering Plan Administrator
(NANPA).  Admittedly, these projections are somewhat volatile because there
is no way to pinpoint the amount of blocks that will be requested in the
coming months and years.  For example, gorwoing local phone companies,
competing phone companies and cell phone and paging businessnes have all
requested blocks of numbers to service customers in Idaho.

The FCC has allowed requestingt companies to receive a block of 10,000
numbers at a time.  In cases
where acommunications company is just starting oit, very few, if any, of
those numbers may be assigned to customers or "filled", until the company
builds its clientele.  To make this system more efficient the FCC has
announced that it will soon require existing companies to use 60% to 75%  of
numbers in a given area before receiving additional prefixes (FCC Order
00-429). Also, the FCC will soon name a national administator to issue
1,000 blocks to new and growing businesses instead of the current practice
of issuing a block of 10,000 numbers.  While such practices will certainly
contribute to number conservation, these programs are in the infant stages
and may not be in place
soon enought to preserve the 208 AREA Code.

NANPA notifies the state and the participating industry members well before
an area code is
projected to exhaust so that there is adequate time for those parties to
make good decisions.  Idaho's case is no different and we are simply in the
early stages of this process.  NANPA's updated projection for Idaho's 208
exhaust should be available by late April or early May 2001.  Once we have
this information, the Commission will determine how to arrange public
meetings on this subject.
The new projected exhaust date, industry recommendations, FCC guidelines
and certainly the
potential impact to customers will all be considered before any decisions
are made about how to implement a new area code in Idaho.  The IPUc
believes it is important to weight these factors
carefully but does intend to be prepared with a plan before the time that
208 is set to exhaust.

Rep. Tom Trail/Dist 5

Dr. Tom Trail
International Trails
1375 Mt. View Rd.
Moscow, Id. 83843
Tel:  (208) 882-6077
Fax:  (208) 882-0896
e mail ttrail@moscow.com