NANP Things (US Toll Free from Toronto)

Puerto Rico split off from 809 into 787 back in 1996. The U.S.Virgin Islands split off from 809 into 340 back in 1997.

All of the other non-US Caribbean islands which are part of the NANP (mostly "British"), including the Bahamas and Bermuda in the Atlantic, changed from 809 into their own unique area codes between 1995 and

1999;

It was the Dominican Republic which retained area code 809.

Puerto Rico (787) was overlaid with 939 in 2001. The Dominican Republic (the sole country retaining 809) was overlaid with 829 last year (2005).

Puerto Rico and the U.S.Virgin Islands have domestic-rated calling with the rest of the United States on most (though not necessarily all) US Long Distance carriers.

NANPA (North American Numbering Plan *ADMINISTRATION*) is not a geographic location but rather the generic name of the organization that administers numbering within the geographic location known as the NANP (North American Numbering *Plan*), this geographic area aka Country Code +1, or World Zone '1'.

AT&T had the functions of the NANPA through 1983.

NANPA functions were moved into Bell Communications Research (Bellcore), the entity "carved out of" the old Bell System to handle centralized, single-point-of-contact functions, with divestiture in

1984.

Effective in 1998, Lockheed-Martin took over NANPA functions, to make it appear more "neutral", Bellcore being owned by the seven Regional Bell holding corporations, in an era of increasing competition on the local side (although Bellcore was sold by its regional Bell holding corporate owners to SAIC, Scientific Applications International Co, effective 1999, which renamed what had been Bellcore now as Telcordia).

In 2000, Lockheed-Martin transferred the NANPA functions over to a new entity called Neustar, because of conflicts-of-interest regarding LM, who was getting involved into some "fringe" telecom operations.

As for the Pacific Islands, in addition to the two US states in the Pacific Ocean area (Alaska 907, Hawaii 808), three US territories in the Pacific Ocean area have since become incorporated into the NANP. The numeric digits of their ITU Country Code were retained as the numeric digits of their NANP Area Code, now under Country Code +1.

Guam +671- changed to +1-671-, along with the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan, Tinian, Rota) +670- changed to +1-670- in 1997/98.

American Samoa +684 changed to +1-684- in 2004/05.

+7 Russia is only shared (still) by Kazakstan. All of the other former Soviet republics have broken off into their own ITU Country Codes. The US is a single country that will not be broken up into separate "country" codes. Canada maintains close relations with the US, and will more than likely retain the use of Country Code +1 with the US. The non-US Caribbean Countries in the NANP might be the only possible "candidates" to get their own ITU Country Codes, but they couldn't begin as '1X', due to the way the numbering and dialing is structured in the US/Canada part of the NANP. But it would be a significant international situation, both politically and telephonically, to "force" the (non-US) Caribbean islands into their own ITU Country Codes outside of Country Code +1 (NANP).

Also note that there are some Caribbean locations which already have their own country codes, such as Cuba (+53), Haiti (+509), the French and Dutch islands (+590, +596, +599, Aruba +297), and the French islands of St.Pierre & Miquelon off the coast of Newfoundland (Canada) have their own ITU Country Code +508.

At present, we are NOT running out of area codes. What had happened in the later 1990s in the NANP/US and *elsewhere* around the world, i.e., area code splits, expansions of local/national numbers, total re-numbering of domestic numbering plans, etc., turned out to only be a temporary trend. Not that there are never going to be new area codes in the NANP, or other codes introduced in other countries' numbering plans, but what happened in the later 1990s has either stopped altogather for the present time, or has slowed down tremendously.

At one point in the later 1990s, it was thought that the NANP would run out of area codes as early as 2007 if codes continued to be assigned at the rate they were. But since then, the projections of exhaust of the NANP are for the 2030-50 time-period, which is what the projections were when done in the early 1990s. This is at the end of the lifetime for most of us, or well past most of our lifetimes.

It also appears that over time, there will be less geography, possibly little to no geograpic association, to telephone or telecom numbering. Just look at cellphones and VoIP, virtual fax numbers, etc. People are "migrating" numbers all over with VoIP, and they are constantly "roaming" with cellular.

In closing, to reiterate:

809 was retained exclusively by the Dominican Republic after everything else in the NANP Caribbean broke into thNeir own unique area codes between 1995 and 1999. This includes Puerto Rico which broke off into 787 back in 1996. And both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have subsequently been overlaid as well.

NANPA is an administrative body, the North American Numbering Plan

*Administration*. The North American telephonic geographic area is known as the NANP, North American Numbering *Plan*.

Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan, Tinian, Rota) were incorporated into the NANP in 1997/98; American Samoa was incorporated into the NANP in 2004/05. In all cases, the numerics of their ITU Country Code were used as the numerics of their NANP Area Code within Country Code +1.

At present, we are NOT in danger of running out of area codes or other numbers resources anytime soon, whether in the NANP or elsewhere in the world. The big "numbering crisis" of the later 1990s was only a temporary trend, and if really investigated or managed properly, was mostly unnecessary. And it might happen over time that telephone numbering will become less geographic based altogather.