Area code split

Article summary

In telecommunications, an area code split is the practice of introducing a new telephone area code by geographically dividing an existing numbering plan area (NPA), and assigning area codes to the resulting divisions, but retaining the existing area code only for one of the divisions. The purpose of this practice is to provide more central office prefixes, and therefore more telephone numbers, in an area with high demand for telecommunication services, and prevent a shortage of telephone numbers. An increasing demand for telephone numbers has existed since the development of automatic telephony in the early 20th century, but was spurred especially since the 1990s, with the proliferation of fax machines, pager systems, mobile telephones, computer modems and, eventually, smart phones. The implementation of an area code split typically involves the establishment of a Class-4 toll switching center for each division of the existing numbering plan area that receive a new area code. The local seven-digit telephone numbers in any of the areas are typically not changed. The existing central office prefixes are maintained and only the central offices of the new divisions are reassigned to a new area code.…

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