New area code 272

The area code overlay for the 570 region will be 272, the state Public Utility Commission has announced.

The move will require that people dial 10 digits for all local phone calls as new phones are issued 272 numbers once capacity for 570 numbers are exhausted. That is expected sometime next year.

The North American Numbering Plan administrator selected the three digits. After a grace period of a few months, 10-digit dialing will begin throughout the 570 and 272 areas.

The proliferation of individual phone numbers at businesses and among cell phone users has depleted numbers in some area codes at a faster rate than others. Increasingly, federal and stage agencies have opted to have new area codes overlay existing codes rather than splitting area codes into smaller sections. Splitting area codes would require issuing new phone numbers. The plan approved by the PUC will not require changing any of the existing numbers within the 570 area code.

There are more than 300 million cell phones in the U.S., said telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan. Cable operators and Voice over Internet Protocol over-Internet providers who provide phone service also add to demand for new numbers.

Kagan is based in Atlanta, which has three area codes. He has been dialing 10 digits for more than a decade.

“Welcome to the 21st century,” he quipped. “Seven-digit dialing has become quaint.”

Despite the trend toward overlay area codes, people are actually dialing fewer numbers these days, Kagan said.

“Our commonly used numbers are programmed into our cell phones or on speed dial and when we dial a strange number we have it in front of us,” he said. “So it’s not like you will have to remember all these new numbers.”

Earlier this month, the commission voted 5-0 to approve the overlay plan, which members felt would be the least disruptive to the public