Mainers won’t have to contend with the disaster of learning two different area codes for at least 12 years.
The latest forecast shows the 207 area code will hang on until at least the second quarter of 2036, three years longer than previously expected, according to the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
The utilities commission began closely monitoring the 207 area code’s lifespan in 2018 as the number of service providers in the state increased, placing more demands on the shrinking pool of numbers.
“The Commission is very active in a number of conservation efforts, working with companies to ensure they get the telephone numbers they need, while asking other companies to return numbers they don’t need,” Chair Philip L. Bartlett II said in a Wednesday morning statement.
Rumors of the 207 area code’s exhaustion have become a regular occurrence in recent years. Its last call was forecasted, in 2015, to occur by early 2019. That was then extended to 2024, and again to 2025, 2027, 2029, 2032, 2033 and now 2036.
In 2021, the prospect of splitting Maine into two area codes prompted the state’s congressional delegation to call on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to work with state regulators to save the 207, calling it a “cultural touchstone” and its preservation a “matter of efficiency.”
The utilities commission has investigated numbering practices of carriers like Verizon and T-Mobile to see whether they unnecessarily tie up large blocks of unused numbers within the 207 area code.
The commission has successfully worked with carriers to return hundreds of thousands of unused numbers to the 207 pool for future use.
“Our team has been working collaboratively with phone companies, the Federal Communications Commission, the North American Numbering Council (NANC), and NANPA on strategies to extend the entire numbering system, not just Maine,” Bartlett said.
Maine is just one of 11 states with just a single area code. But the problem facing the 207 is just a part of a larger dilemma facing the nation broadly. The U.S. could run out of area codes by mid-century, which could prompt the switch from 10-digit to 12-digit phone numbers. Such a change could cost an estimated $270 billion, according to the utilities commission.
Regulators continue to pursue other options to extend the lifespan of Maine’s 207 area code, and the utilities commission hopes Maine’s efforts could become a model for other states seeking to preserve dwindling phone number pools.
