Press Release

Area Code Relief Planed for North Carolina
984 will be the New Overlay Code

Washington, DC (March 28, 2001) --- The North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA) announced today that a new overlay area code ---(984)--- has been assigned to North Carolina. The area currently served by the 919 area code has been assigned the 984 overlay code. The 919 area code is projected to exhaust Fourth Quarter 2001. Activation dates and the customer education plan for the new overlay code will be determined at a later date.

The area code relief plan was recommended by a telecommunications industry group. The group considered several alternatives for relief of the 919 calling area before reaching agreement on the overlay plan. The North Carolina Utilities Commission approved the overlay relief plan earlier this month.

In the overlay plan, an additional area code is added to the same geographic area currently served by the existing 919 area code. All existing numbers will retain the current area code 919, but new telephone customers for local phone service, cellular and paging services, and alarms, may be assigned a telephone number in the new 984 overlay area code.

In addition, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires that all local telephone calls made in an overlay area code use a 10-digit (area code + seven digit phone number) dialing plan. In North Carolina, all local calls made within and between the 919 and the new 984 area codes must be made dialing 10-digits.

Thomas C. Foley, NANPA's area code relief planner for the Eastern Region, which includes North Carolina, said the introduction of the new 984 area code is needed due to an increase in competition in the local phone service market, the growing demand by the public for additional telephone numbers, and a technical requirement in the phone network that currently allocates phone numbers in blocks of 10,000.

Foley said the addition of the new overlay area code would not affect the cost of telephone calls. "Local calls will remain local calls regardless of the area code dialed," he noted.

A telecommunications industry group, comprised of service providers from various industry segments, collectively develops area code relief plans for North Carolina. Relief activities for area codes in North Carolina are administered by NeuStar, Inc., which was selected by the FCC to serve as the NANPA.

NANPA is the neutral, third party administrator that works with the telecommunications industry in developing area code relief plans. NANPA also oversees the assignment of area codes, three-digit central office codes, carrier identification codes, and other numbering resources throughout the United States, Canada, Bermuda and 16 Caribbean countries.

Visit NANPA online at www.nanpa.com.

For media inquiries, please contact Bill Stern, spokesman for the North American Numbering Plan Administration, at 202-533-2648.