Regulators not ready to call time on Maine's iconic 207 area code
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The life of Maine's 207 area code has been extended 3 1/2 years to September 2032, according to the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
Maine's utilities regulator says it won't need to call time on the state's 207 area code for nine years or maybe even decades after that.
A semiannual review by an arm of the Federal Communications Commission has found there are enough unused phone numbers with the state’s single area code to last until September 2032.
That buys the Maine Public Utilities Commission another 3 1/2 years before the need to introduce a second area code. The previous expectation was that the 207 area code would be exhausted by early 2029. The new end-date projection is also seven years later than the original prediction that the iconic digits would be used up by 2025.
“This is one of the longest extensions of our exhaust date since we began our work to preserve Maine’s single area code,” said PUC Chair Philip L. Bartlett II in an Oct 19 news release.
“Our staff has looked at a number of practices that have impacted the rate at which our numbers were being tied up, including forecasting and block request practices, curbing the use of numbering resources by robocallers, and encouraging providers to work collaboratively," he said.
Hinting at even further extensions, he added, "We believe that our continued efforts to ensure numbers are used in the most efficient manner possible could extend the life of Maine’s single area code out until the 2050s."
The Hallowell-based regulatory agency has been monitoring the status of the 207 area code closely for several years as the number of service providers in Maine has been increasing significantly along with the volume of numbering requests.
In January 2021, the predicted exhaust date was 2025. The 207 area code has been around since 1947.
Maine is one of only 11 states that still have a single area code. But the entire country is affected by limited numbering resources and the North American numbering system could run out of area codes by 2051.
Should that happen, current phone systems tha use the standard 10-digit telephone number would need to be re-programmed to a 12-digit number, which could cost up to $270 billion, according to estimates by the FCC.
By taking innovative steps to preserve the 207 area code, the PUC said, Maine is leading the way in reforming numbering practices nationwide.
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