WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association Wednesday questioned the need for Connecticut to implement a wireless-only area code in light of the upcoming mandate for wireless local number portability.
“The Federal Communications Commission has made clear its intent to implement the LNP requirements for wireless carriers on Nov. 24, well in advance of its decision to tentatively authorize the Connecticut wireless-only area code. Wireless customers will prefer numbers drawn from the 203 and 860 area codes over the new and unfamiliar wireless-only area codes and will be able to port numbers from these legacy codes to avoid the discriminatory dialing patterns and disadvantages associated with the new wireless-only area code,” wrote CTIA.
The FCC in May said the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control could establish for three years a separate area code for wireless and other non-geographic services.
The new area code, which will overlay the current 203 and 860 area codes, will only apply to new wireless subscribers. Wireless carriers will be required to return only numbers in the 203 and 860 area codes that have not been used.
The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau must also approve Connecticut’s implementation plan before the new code can be established.
CTIA hopes the FCC will give Connecticut and other states wishing to do similar area-code overlays specific rules on how it will work in an LNP environment.
Connecticut has been a leader in the fight against the wireless industry to establish service-specific overlays and technology-specific area code overlays. Until 2001, the FCC had ruled against states, including Connecticut, that wished to establish these special area codes, which the wireless industry says are discriminatory. In 2001, the commission said it would individually examine each request. On March 21, 2001, Connecticut asked for such authority.
State regulators like the concept of technology-specific overlays because they believe it will conserve numbers in already established area codes. The wireless industry believes that a wireless-specific area code alerts people that they are dialing a wireless device and that some people who may not want others to know they are using such a device will not sign up for wireless service.
Additionally, the wireless industry is concerned about the identity some people have with area codes. A rather famous episode of the TV show “Seinfeld” dealt with this identity issue when one of the characters was given a New York telephone number not in the traditional 212 area code.
