Federal Communications Commission

Washington, D.C. 20554

##  NSD File No. L-99-102

### March 12, 2001

By U.S. Mail and Facsimile

Ms. Sharon J. Devine

Ms. Kathryn Marie Krause

QWEST Corporation

Suite 700

1020 19^th^ Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20036

Re: QWEST Corporation Request For Clarification Or Declaration Regarding
the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission's Delegated
Authority Associated With Number Pooling Trials in the State of
Washington

Dear Ms. Devine and Ms. Krause:

This letter addresses QWEST Corporation's (QWEST) request for
clarification of the scope of Washington Utilities and Transportation
Commission's (Washington Commission) delegated authority to conduct
thousands-block number pooling trials in the State of Washington.[^1]
QWEST specifically requests that the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) address whether the Washington Commission has the authority to
implement a number pooling trial in the 509 numbering plan area (NPA or
area code) in Spokane. As discussed below, we clarify that the
Washington Commission has authority to implement pooling trials within
the state in the 206, 360, 425 and 253 NPAs. It may implement a pooling
trial in the 509 NPA also, but only after demonstrating that the
established criteria are met in that NPA as well.

On April 27, 2000, the Washington Commission sought additional delegated
authority to implement, among other things, thousands-block number
pooling in the State of Washington.[^2] Although the Washington
Commission demonstrated in its petition that the NPAs in western
Washington (206, 360, 425, and 253) met the criteria to implement a
pooling trial,[^3] it did not demonstrate that the 509 NPA in the
Spokane region met the established criteria. On July 20, 2000, the FCC's
Common Carrier Bureau (Bureau) granted the petition, authorizing the
Washington Commission "the authority to implement thousands-block number
pooling trials in the state subject to the conditions and safeguards set
forth above."[^4]

Asserting its authority pursuant to the *State Delegation Order*, the
Washington Commission has scheduled implementation of a pooling trial in
the 509 NPA.[^5] QWEST contends that the Bureau delegated authority to
the Washington Commission to implement pooling trials only with respect
to western Washington.[^6] QWEST further contends that the Washington
Commission has not met the requisite criteria to establish pooling in
eastern Washington, and has exceeded its authority by ordering a pooling
trial in the 509 NPA.[^7] The Washington Commission asserts that the
*State Delegation Order* granted it authority to conduct pooling trials
anywhere in Washington.[^8]

We hereby clarify that the authority delegated to the Washington
Commission extends only to those NPAs for which it has demonstrated that
the conditions and safeguards set forth in the *State Delegation Order*
are met. In this instance, the Washington Commission demonstrated that
area codes located in the Seattle and Portland/Vancouver MSAs (*i.e.,*
western Washington) met the requisite criteria. It did not, however,
make such a showing with regard to the 509 NPA in the Spokane MSA. In
all instances in which the FCC or the Bureau has delegated interim
pooling authority, it has been on a case by case basis, and upon a
showing that the requisite criteria have been met. The Washington
Commission did not demonstrate in any of its pleadings that the
requisite criteria for delegated authority to implement a
thousands-block number pooling trial in the 509 NPA have been satisfied.
The Washington Commission would need to petition the FCC, or supplement
its previous petition, and make the requisite showing before such
authority for the 509 NPA could be granted.

> Sincerely,

# Yog R. Varma

> Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau

cc: Marilyn Showalter, Chairwoman, Washington Utilities and
Transportation Commission

> Richard Hempstead, Commissioner, Washington Utilities and
> Transportation Commission
>
> Shannon E. Smith, Washington State Assistant Attorney General,
> Utilities and Transportation Division

[^1]: QWEST Corporation Request For Clarification Or Declaration
    Regarding the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission's
    Delegated Authority Associated With Number Pooling Trials in the
    State of Washington, filed January 22, 2001 (QWEST Clarification
    Request).

[^2]: Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission's Amended
    Petition for Additional Delegated Authority to Implement Number
    Conservation Measures, filed April 27, 2001.

[^3]: *See Numbering Resource Optimization*, Report and Order and
    Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 15 FCC Rcd 7574, 7652 (2000).
    In this Order, the FCC directed state commissions seeking delegated
    authority for thousands-block number pooling to demonstrate that: 1)
    an NPA in its state is in jeopardy; 2) the NPA in question has a
    remaining life span of at least a year; and 3) that the NPA is in
    one of the largest 100 MSAs, or alternatively, the majority of
    wireline carriers in the NPA are LNP-capable. The FCC recognized
    that there may be "special circumstances" in which pooling would be
    beneficial in NPAs that do not meet all of the above criteria, and
    stated that pooling could be authorized in such NPAs upon a
    satisfactory showing to the Commission of special circumstances.
    *Id.*

[^4]: *In the Matter of Numbering Resource Optimization, Implementation
    of the Local Competition Provisions of the Telecommunications Act .
    . .Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission's Amended
    Petition for Additional Delegated Authority to Implement Number
    Conservation Measures*, Order (rel. July 20, 2000) (*State
    Delegation Order*).

[^5]: In the Matter Of The Investigation Into the Issue Of Numbering
    Resources, Docket No. UT-991627, Order Requiring a Number Pooling
    Trial In Area Code 509, Washington Utilities and Transportation
    Commission, November 30, 2000.

[^6]: *See* QWEST Clarification Request at 2.

[^7]: *Id.* at 11-12.

[^8]: Response Of The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission
    To QWEST Corporation Request For Clarification Or Declaration
    Regarding the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission's
    Delegated Authority Associated With Number Pooling Trials in the
    State of Washington, filed March 2, 2001.