I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 68

To ensure the efficient allocation of telephone numbers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2003

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To ensure the efficient allocation of telephone numbers.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

5 (1) The premature exhaustion of telephone area 

6 codes causes economic dislocation for businesses and 

7 unnecessary inconvenience for households. 

8 (2) The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Pub9 lic Law 104–104) was enacted with the objective of 

10 facilitating the development of competitive markets 

11 in telecommunications services. The efficient alloca-
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1 tion of telephone numbers would further the achieve2 ment of that objective. 

3 (3) The technology and procedures for the effi4 cient allocation of telephone numbers are currently 

5 under development and should be available in 2 to 

6 3 years. 

7 (4) The combination of rapid growth in com8 petition for telecommunication services and the inef9 ficient allocation of numbering resources devoted to 

10 such services will result in the creation of scores of 

11 new telephone area codes, almost all of which will 

12 become wholly unnecessary once procedures for the 

13 efficient allocation of telephone numbers are in 

14 place. 

15 (5) The premature exhaustion of telephone area 

16 codes can be prevented by measures to conserve the 

17 allocation of so-called central office codes. 

18 (6) State regulatory authorities have the inter19 est and capability to tailor mechanisms to conserve 

20 telephone numbers to the needs of the telecommuni21 cations markets. 

22 (7) Mechanisms for the conservation of tele23 phone numbers can be implemented without imped24 ing competition for telecommunications services. 
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1 SEC. 2. EFFICIENT ALLOCATION OF TELEPHONE NUMBERS. 

2 (a) PLAN.—Not later than June 30, 2003, the Fed3 eral Communications Commission shall develop a plan for 

4 the efficient allocation of telephone numbers. The Com5 mission shall fully implement such plan not later than De6 cember 31, 2003. 

7 (b) ELEMENTS.—The plan under subsection (a) 

8 shall—

9 (1) include mechanisms to ensure full port10 ability of telephone numbers; 

11 (2) provide for full sharing of unassigned tele12 phone numbers among telecommunications carriers; 

13 and 

14 (3) take into account any telecommunications 

15 technology that will be widely available as of Decem16 ber 31, 2003, that requires a telephone number. 

17 (c) DELEGATION OF NUMBERING JURISDICTION.—

18 Until the Commission has fully implemented the plan re19 quired by subsection (a), the Commission shall, upon the 

20 request of a State commission, delegate to the State com21 mission the jurisdiction of the Commission over tele22 communications numbering with respect to the State 

23 under section 251(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 

24 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)(1)) to the extent that such delega25 tion will permit the State commission to implement meas-
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1 ures to conserve telephone numbers, including measures 

2 as follows: 

3 (1) To establish minimum use and so-called 

4 ‘‘fill’’ rate requirements for central office codes. 

5 (2) To conduct audits of the use of telephone 

6 numbers and central office codes. 

7 (3) To require telecommunications carriers to 

8 return unused or underused central office codes and 

9 to return central office codes that have been ob10 tained in a manner contrary to Federal or State 

11 numbering guidelines or protocols. 

12 (4) To establish individual number pooling, 

13 mandatory 1000-block pooling, and interim unas14 signed number porting. 

15 (5) To ration central office codes.

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