LONG DISTANCE CARRIER CODE ASSIGNMENTS Industry Analysis Division Common Carrier Bureau Federal Communications Commission June 1997 This report is available for reference in the Common Carrier Bureau's Public Reference Room, 2000 M Street, N.W., Room 575. Copies may be purchased by calling International Transcription Services, Inc. (ITS) at (202) 857-3800. The report can be downloaded [file name LDC1Q97.ZIP] from the FCC-State Link internet site at http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats on the World Wide Web. The report can also be downloaded from the FCC- State Link computer bulletin board system at (202) 418-0241. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE 1. NUMBER OF CARRIER IDENTIFICATION CODES ASSIGNED BY BELL COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH (FIRST QUARTER 1982 THROUGH FIRST QUARTER 1997) .......................................................... 8 TABLE 2. LIST OF FGB CIC CODE ASSIGNMENTS, SORTED BY CIC CODE ................ 9 TABLE 3. LIST OF FGB CIC CODE ASSIGNMENTS, SORTED BY ENTITY .................. 16 TABLE 4. LIST OF FGD CIC CODE ASSIGNMENTS, SORTED BY CIC CODE ................ 23 TABLE 5. LIST OF FGD CIC CODE ASSIGNMENTS, SORTED BY ENTITY .................. 33 TABLE 6. 500 CODE BALANCE SHEET (AS OF MARCH 31, 1997) ......................... 43 TABLE 7. NUMBER OF 500 CODES ASSIGNED (THIRD QUARTER 1994 THROUGH FIRST QUARTER 1997) .......................................................... 43 TABLE 8. LIST OF 500 CODE ASSIGNMENTS SORTED BY CODE ......................... 44 TABLE 9. LIST OF 500 CODE ASSIGNMENTS SORTED BY ENTITY ....................... 48 TABLE 10. 555 LINE NUMBER BALANCE SHEET (AS OF MARCH 31, 1997) .................. 52 TABLE 11. NUMBER OF 555 LINE NUMBERS ASSIGNED (SECOND QUARTER 1994 THROUGH FIRST QUARTER 1997) .......................................... 52 TABLE 12. LIST OF 555 LINE NUMBER ASSIGNMENTS SORTED BY LINE NUMBER ......... 53 TABLE 13. LIST OF 555 LINE NUMBER ASSIGNMENTS SORTED BY ENTITY ................ 71 TABLE 14. TELEPHONE NUMBERS ASSIGNED FOR 800 SERVICE (APRIL 1993 THROUGH APRIL 1997) ............................................................. 89 TABLE 15. TELEPHONE NUMBERS ASSIGNED FOR 888 SERVICE (FEBRUARY 1996 THROUGH APRIL 1997) ................................................... 90 TABLE 16. 900 CODE BALANCE SHEET (AS OF MARCH 31, 1997) ......................... 91 TABLE 17. NUMBER OF 900 CODES ASSIGNED TO INTEREXCHANGE CARRIERS (FIRST QUARTER 1987 THROUGH FIRST QUARTER 1997) ............................. 92 TABLE 18. LIST OF 900 CODE ASSIGNMENTS SORTED BY CODE ......................... 93 TABLE 19. LIST OF 900 CODE ASSIGNMENTS SORTED BY ENTITY ....................... 96 LONG DISTANCE CARRIER CODE ASSIGNMENTS This report contains information on carrier identification codes (CICs) and other telecommunications numbering resources. The information in this report is used within the telephone industry and by users of telephone services for a variety of purposes. CICs are used within the telephone industry to, among other things, identify particular long distance carriers and other access customers in order to bill and route traffic to them. As part of carrier access codes, CICs are also used by customers to reach alternative carriers, such as "dial-around" long distance providers. The separate codes assigned to providers of 500 and 900 services are used by local telephone companies to direct calls to the service provider. Both residential and business customers frequently seek information from the Commission about these codes to identify particular service providers. Manufacturers require information on numbering resources to design and produce telecommunications equipment efficiently. Vendors of equipment frequently seek information on the growth of numbering resources to estimate potential demand. Major corporations and government agencies that operate their own telecommunications networks need information on numbering resources to efficiently interconnect their networks with the public switched network. More generally, the evolution of numbering resources provides insight into the development of competition in the long distance market. This report presents brief background information on the administration of numbering resources and then summarizes the information specifically related to carrier identification codes, 500 service, 555 line number assignments, 800 and 888 service, and 900 service. Numbering Resources Administration The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is the basic format for telephone numbers in the United States (including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), Canada, Bermuda and the following Caribbean countries: Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Turks & Caicos Islands, and Trinidad & Tobago. Each telephone number within the NANP is a unique ten-digit number that consists of three parts. The first is a three-digit code -- the Numbering Plan Area or "NPA" code, which usually identifies a specific geographic area and is usually simply called an "area code". In other cases, the first three digits provide caller access to unique services (e.g., 500, 800, 888, and 900 service). The last two parts of each ten-digit number are a three-digit central office code and a four-digit line number. Together, these seven digits usually make up an ordinary local telephone number. In some cases, such as 500 and 900 service, the office code has special uses other than identifying the geographic location of a central office. In the following discussion, the three-digit central office code is sometimes referred to as the "office code" or the "NXX" code. Section 251 (e)(1) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which amends the Communications Act of 1934, requires that the Federal Communications Commission "create or designate one or more impartial entities to administer telecommunications numbering and to make such numbers available on an equitable basis." Section 251(e)(1) also clarifies that the FCC has "exclusive jurisdiction over those portions of the North American Numbering Plan that pertain to the United States . [but does not] preclude the Commission from delegating to State commissions or other entities all or any portion of such jurisdiction." The Network Services Division of the Commission's Common Carrier Bureau oversees numbering resource matters. The NANP was introduced by AT&T in 1947. AT&T administered the NPA codes centrally, and the local exchange carriers administered the NXX codes and line numbers. After the AT&T divestiture in 1984, Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) assumed the centralized number administration functions. On July 13, 1995, the Commission adopted a new model for administration of the NANP, announcing its intention to establish the North American Numbering Council (NANC), a federal advisory committee.1 The NANC will, among other tasks, advise the Commission and other NANP governments on numbering issues (such as local number portability implementation), recommend selection of and guide an impartial NANP Administrator, and conduct initial resolution of certain numbering disputes. The NANP Administrator selected by the NANC will process number resource applications and maintain administrative numbering databases. Operational details and additional activities of the NANP Administrator are to be determined by the NANC. Additional information about the NANC is available from the Commission's internet site at (http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/Nanc). Carrier Identification Codes CICs are numeric codes that, as originally devised, enabled local exchange carriers (LECs), as providers of interexchange access services, to identify access customers in order to bill and route traffic to such customers.2 Bellcore, as the current NANP Administrator, assigns these codes using guidelines developed by the Industry Carriers Compatibility Forum (ICCF), under the auspices of the Carrier Liaison Committee (CLC) which is sponsored by the Alliance for Telecommunications Solutions (ATIS), an industry forum. Currently, the Industry Numbering 1 See Administration of the North American Numbering Plan, CC Docket No. 92-237, Report and Order, 11 FCC Rcd 2588 (1995). 2 Access providers are typically local exchange carriers that provide access customers with circuits that interconnect to the local carrier's public switched telephone network. Access customers include interexchange carriers, wireless carriers, competitive access providers, and large corporate users. Commission rules require that "interstate access services should be made available on a non-discriminatory basis and, as far as possible, without distinction between end user and IC [interexchange carrier] customers." Petition of First Data Resources, Inc., Regarding the Availability of Feature Group B Access Service to End Users, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 1986 WL 291786, (1986), released May 28,1986 (First Data Resources Order) at para. 13. 2 Committee (INC), a subcommittee of the ICCF, develops these guidelines. The most recent version of these guidelines was issued in September 1996.3 Currently, CICs are used for purposes beyond those for which they were originally designed. CICs facilitate competition by enabling callers to use the services of any number of telecommunications service providers. For example, they enable callers to reach any carrier (presubscribed or otherwise) from any telephone, by dialing a carrier access code that includes