[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 68 Introduced in House (IH)]






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.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

     Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The premature exhaustion of telephone area codes causes 
        economic dislocation for businesses and unnecessary 
        inconvenience for households.
            (2) The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-104) 
        was enacted with the objective of facilitating the development 
        of competitive markets in telecommunications services. The 
        efficient allocation of telephone numbers would further the 
        achievement of that objective.
            (3) The technology and procedures for the efficient 
        allocation of telephone numbers are currently under development 
        and should be available in 2 to 3 years.
            (4) The combination of rapid growth in competition for 
        telecommunication services and the inefficient allocation of 
        numbering resources devoted to such services will result in the 
        creation of scores of new telephone area codes, almost all of 
        which will become wholly unnecessary once procedures for the 
        efficient allocation of telephone numbers are in place.
            (5) The premature exhaustion of telephone area codes can be 
        prevented by measures to conserve the allocation of so-called 
        central office codes.
            (6) State regulatory authorities have the interest and 
        capability to tailor mechanisms to conserve telephone numbers 
        to the needs of the telecommunications markets.
            (7) Mechanisms for the conservation of telephone numbers 
        can be implemented without impeding competition for 
        telecommunications services.

SEC. 2. EFFICIENT ALLOCATION OF TELEPHONE NUMBERS.

    (a) Plan.--Not later than June 30, 2003, the Federal Communications 
Commission shall develop a plan for the efficient allocation of 
telephone numbers. The Commission shall fully implement such plan not 
later than December 31, 2003.
    (b) Elements.--The plan under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) include mechanisms to ensure full portability of 
        telephone numbers;
            (2) provide for full sharing of unassigned telephone 
        numbers among telecommunications carriers; and
            (3) take into account any telecommunications technology 
        that will be widely available as of December 31, 2003, that 
        requires a telephone number.
    (c) Delegation of Numbering Jurisdiction.--Until the Commission has 
fully implemented the plan required by subsection (a), the Commission 
shall, upon the request of a State commission, delegate to the State 
commission the jurisdiction of the Commission over telecommunications 
numbering with respect to the State under section 251(e)(1) of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251(e)(1)) to the extent that 
such delegation will permit the State commission to implement measures 
to conserve telephone numbers, including measures as follows:
            (1) To establish minimum use and so-called ``fill'' rate 
        requirements for central office codes.
            (2) To conduct audits of the use of telephone numbers and 
        central office codes.
            (3) To require telecommunications carriers to return unused 
        or underused central office codes and to return central office 
        codes that have been obtained in a manner contrary to Federal 
        or State numbering guidelines or protocols.
            (4) To establish individual number pooling, mandatory 1000-
        block pooling, and interim unassigned number porting.
            (5) To ration central office codes.
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