State commission orders new area code in Southern Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Telephone users in Southern Illinois may soon have a new area code under a new order from the Illinois Commerce Commission.

The ICC order would impose the new code, 730, within the existing 618 area code when the 618 numbers start to run out. The earliest the new code will be used is 2008 and will only be assigned to new land lines, cell phones and fax machines, officials said.

Callers in the region covered by the two area codes will then have to dial 10 digits for each call made to that area. Outside that area, residents would dial 1 plus the prefix plus the seven-digit local number. The change will not affect rates or charges for toll calls.

The 618 area code covers the southern part of Illinois from the St. Louis suburbs on the west to the Indiana state line on the east, and southward to Cairo.

For several years the commission has debated how it would deal with a projected shortfall of existing phone numbers in the 618 area code.

After a series of public hearings, the commission decided Wednesday using the two area codes for one large area was the least disruptive solution, said commission spokesman Beth Bosch.

Another option, which was very unpopular, was to split the area code along geographic lines so that telephone customers near St. Louis would keep 618 while the rest of the region would get a new area code.

NeuStar Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based company that administers telephone numbers, has assigned the 730 number to the area.

The ICC originally had said the supply of available phone numbers in the 618 area code would be exhausted in 2001. But a federal number pooling program implemented by the Federal Communications Commission helped extend the life of the area code.