KENTUCKY (WFIE) -
On Monday, the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) announced a new area code 364 in western
Kentucky that will occupy the same geographic area as the current area code 270.
The overlay option is the least
disruptive for all customers and imposes the smallest cost on businesses in the
area, the PSC said in its order. This is the first area code in Kentucky
created by an overlay. Area code 270 was created in 1999 by splitting area code
502.
"This decision means that everyone who
now has an area code 270 phone number can keep that number," PSC Chairman David
Armstrong said. "The only thing that will change is that 10-digit dialing will
be required for local calls beginning in early 2014."
Ten-digit dialing means that an area
code must precede the seven-digit phone number for all local calls within the
current area code 270 territory. Long-distance calls within area code 270 will
require 11-digit (1 plus area code plus number) dialing, like any long-distance
call to outside the area. Ten-digit dialing also will be required for all calls
where local calling areas span the boundary between area code 270 and adjoining
area codes.
With more than a year until final
implementation, there will be a lot of time for a smooth transition that will
allow everyone to become familiar with the new dialing rules, Armstrong said.
The PSC noted in its order that public
comments received in the case overwhelmingly favored an overlay. The other
option was to split area code 270 and designate a portion as area code 364,
with both landline and wireless customers in the affected portion required to
change their area code as a result.
"Public opinion has shifted
dramatically in the six years since the PSC last considered this matter,"
Armstrong said. "It appears that the public is much less concerned about
10-digit dialing than about the possibility of having to change phone numbers."
Comments from the business community
noted that a split would force businesses in the area receiving the new area
code to change printed materials, signage and anything else bearing their phone
number, the PSC said in its order.
In selecting an overlay, the PSC noted
that it has become the preferred method for creating new area codes. Overlays
pose the fewest technical issues for implementation by an increasing complex
telecommunication industry, the PSC said.
Overlays have been used for all but
one (in New Mexico) of the last 24 area codes created nationwide, the PSC noted
in today's order.
For example, the West Virginia Public
Service Commission in 2008 at first opted to split the state's sole area code.
But opposition from the public – especially the business community – forced it
to reverse course a month later and create a statewide overlay.
The Kentucky PSC was formally notified
in April of the need for a new area code by the North American Numbering Plan
Administrator (NANPA), the agency that distributes blocks of phone numbers to
providers and tracks number exhaustion in area codes.
NANPA originally said a new area code
would be needed in early 2015, but later revised that projection to early 2014.
"The need for a new area code is
driven largely by demand for new numbers associated with wireless devices, but
also is suggestive of increasing economic activity," PSC Chairman Armstrong
said. "As such, it is a positive development."
The PSC opened the area code case in
August. Public information sessions were conducted in October in Bowling Green,
Elizabethtown, Glasgow, Henderson, Hopkinsville, Owensboro, and Paducah. PSC
staff also spoke to civic or business organizations in Bowling Green,
Elizabethtown, Henderson, Hopkinsville, Madisonville and Murray.
Monday's PSC order sets an
implementation schedule for the overlay that extends over the next 13 months.
Telecommunication providers are ordered to begin preparing their networks for
the change no later than Feb. 2, 2013.
Landline and wireless local service
providers also are required to prepare customer education plans, submit them to
the PSC by mid-February and begin implementing those plans in February as well.
A permissive dialing period will begin
on Aug. 3, 2013. During that time, calls may be made using either the current
seven-digit dialing rules or the new 10-digit dialing rules.
The permissive dialing period is
intended both as a transition period to the new dialing patterns and as an
opportunity for private telephone systems to be reprogrammed and tested in
preparation for mandatory 10-digit dialing.
Mandatory 10-digit dialing will go
into effect on Feb. 1, 2014. At that point, calls using the current dialing
rules will no longer be connected.
The first numbers using area code 364
may be assigned beginning March 3, 2014. Area code 270 numbers can be assigned
after that date, but their availability will depend on how many remain in the
inventory of each individual service provider.
In addition to the education programs
required of the service providers, the PSC also will work to educate customers
about the new area code and what it will mean for them.
Ten Things To Know About Kentucky's New Area Code
1. All current area code 270
numbers remain unchanged. Everyone with a 270 area code number can keep it.
Nobody is required to change their area code or phone number.
2. The overlay affects both
landline and wireless services.
3. Area code 364 will be
overlaid on top of area code 270. That means that area codes 270 and 364 will
occupy the same physical space beginning March 2014.
4. In order to distinguish
between phone numbers with area code 270 and those with area code 364, 10-digit
dialing will be required for all local calls within the overlay.
5. Ten-digit dialing also
will be required for local calls into or out of the overlay in those areas that
now allow seven-digit local calling across the area code 270 boundary.
6. Ten-digit dialing means
dialing the area code before dialing the number itself – for example:
270-555-1212 or 364-555-1212.
7. Long-distance calls
within the overlay will require 11-digit (1-plus) dialing, just as long
distance calls to other area codes do now.
8. A transition period,
known as permissive dialing, will begin on August 3, 2013 and end on January
31, 2014. During that time, local calls can be made using either seven-digit or
10-digit dialing.
9. On February 1, 2014,
10-digit dialing for local calls will become mandatory in the area code 270/364
territory.
10. Numbers with area code
364 may be distributed beginning March 3, 2014. Telecommunication service
providers may continue to distribute 270 numbers for as long as they have any
remaining in their inventories.
Copyright 2012 WFIE. All rights reserved.
