Davis Signs Bill Seeking Cell Phone Area Codes
Hoping to slow the “unnecessary proliferation of area codes,†California Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill that seeks federal permission to create codes exclusively for cell phones, pagers and certain data lines. Senate Bill 1741 by Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey) directs the state Public Utilities Commission to ask the Federal Communications Commission for permission to establish new area codes for telecommunications devices and thus ease the need to create new geographic area codes that inconvenience businesses and residential customers. The number of area codes in California has jumped from 13 in 1997 to 25 last year. The PUC expects the state to have 41 by the end of 2002.
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