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Article: Telcos say code shortage packs 212 punch;Upstarts want access to prized numbers; Bell Atlantic resists changes, citing cost.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Crain's New York Business
- Article date:
- May 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When Focal Communications Corp. expanded into Manhattan in the winter of 1998, it got what every other new telephone company received from regulators: a block of 10,000 numbers with the 212 area code. Today, Chicago-based Focal is lucky to have any 212 numbers left to offer its customers, thanks to the proliferation of cell phones, Internet hookups and fax machines, as well as the explosion in the number of telephone companies entering the city. Instead, new companies are mostly stuck with the unfashionable 646 area code, introduced last summer. Regulators intervened in an attempt to alleviate the number crunch, setting up a program to reclaim and redistribute thousands of ...