Friday, April 16, 1999
Ky. debates how to split 606 code
Northerners fear a change could hurt
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT MITCHELL — When Kentucky's overloaded 606 area code eventually splits, Northern Kentuckians say they want to stick with the code they've always known.
For a couple of hours Thursday, Northern Kentuckians told members of the Kentucky Public Service Commission where they think the split should be and why.
Like many other areas na tionwide, 606 is getting full and a new area code will have to be instituted. According to the commission, the 606 area code — which is essentially the eastern half of the state, including Northern Kentucky and Lexington — is predicted to run out of numbers by the fourth quarter of 2000.
“The 606 area code now has 157 prefixes left to assign,” said Wayne Bates, a commission engineer. “Exhaustion will happen. We have to do something.”
Six alternatives are under consideration by the North American Numbering Plan Administration, a division of the aerospace firm Lockheed Martin that oversees area codes in the United States, its territo ries, Canada, Bermuda and many Caribbean nations.
Kentucky Public Service Commission members say two of those alternatives are the most feasible.
One of the early proposals was to move parts of Northern Kentucky into southwest Ohio's 513 area code, but that option is all but dead.
“That will not happen,” Mr. Bates said. “The 513 area code has its own problems.”
The first feasible option is a split that would keep Northern Kentucky and Lexington in the same area code.
“The national trend is for the old area code to stay with the most populated area,” said Melissa Hale, spokeswoman for the commission, adding that is no guarantee it will happen in this case. “The commission will look at the number of businesses and people affected.”
That's what happened when the commission decided to split the 502 area code in 1997. Louisville and the surrounding area will keep the 502 area code, and the rest of Western Kentucky will be in the new 270 area starting May 1.
The other feasible option is a north-south split that generally follows the Mountain Parkway. That option would split Lexington and Northern Kentucky.
“Under this arrangement, the commission would decide who gets what area code,” Mr. Bates said.
Business owners who attended the hearing said changing the 606 area code would have a dramatic effect on the way they do business.
“To start out, the airport is the driving force in Northern Kentucky,” said Ted Bushelman, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport spokesman. “We do a lot of marketing in the European area. Not only do we go to travel agents, but we also go to businesses.
“We leave brochures and business cards. If we don't keep the 606 exchange, we're going to lose a percentage of that business.”
Commission members say number exhaustion happens for several reasons. One is technol ogy — “in short, cell phones, fax machines and computer lines,” Mr. Bates said.
Growth is also a factor, but competition among phone companies that want to provide competitive local rates is the biggest problem. Each company that enters the local market is assigned a block of 10,000 numbers, so numbers are being depleted in blocks of 10,000 at a time whether they are used or not.
Commission members say a decision should be made about the area code change sometime this spring. By spring 2000, a permissive dialing period would start in which both the new and old area codes could be used. By fall 2000, the change would be made permanent.
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