Press Release

775 Area Code Becomes Mandatory On May 15
"Get Acquainted" Dialing Period Ends on Saturday

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 10, 1999) — Beginning May 15, it will be mandatory for callers to dial 775 to reach residents in the vast majority of Nevada, including all areas north and west of Clark County, according to the Communications Industry Services (CIS) division of NeuStar, Inc., which serves as the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA).

The new 775 area code was introduced December 12, 1998, after the area code split was adopted by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission. The 702 area code will continue to serve the majority of Clark County, with Las Vegas being the major community of interest.

The new 775 area code will serve the remainder of Nevada, which includes all areas north and west of Clark County along with a small part of Clark County served by the Pahrump exchange area. The communities that will be served by the new 775 area code include Battle Mountain, Beatty, Carson City, Eureka, Elko, Ely, Fallon, Gardnerville, Goldfield, Hawthorne, Imlay, Jackpot, Lathrop, Lovelock, Reno, Stateline, Tonopah, Pahrump, Paradise Valley, Pioche, Wells and Winnemucca.

The introduction of this new area code will not affect the price of telephone calls.

Joe Cocke, NANPA's senior area code relief planner for the Western Region, including Nevada, said the introduction of the new 775 area code, which is Nevada's 2nd area code, is needed to meet the rapidly growing demand for additional telephone numbers in the 702 area code and across the state.

"The demand for additional telephone numbers has been driven by several factors including an increase in Nevada's population and healthy economic conditions," Cocke said. "Businesses are also expanding and needing additional telephone numbers, as well as a need for second and third phone lines in the home, and for more wireless services." Another factor is an increase in local telephone service competition, Cocke added.

Mandatory Dialing Period
Since the 775 area code was introduced in December, a "get acquainted" dialing period has enabled callers from outside the area to use either the 702 or the 775 area code when completing a call to customers in the new 775 area code. That arrangement will end Saturday, May 15.

Beginning Saturday, callers will need to use the correct area code to complete their calls. A "mandatory dialing" period for the new 775 area code runs through October 9. During that time, callers who forget to use 775 will receive a recorded message reminding them that the area code has changed.

Things to Remember
Cocke said customers have had this five-month "get acquainted" dialing period to allow them time to get used to the new area code and to prepare for other important changes. Some changes customers should remember include:

• Changing stationery, business cards and advertising to reflect the correct area code if not already shown.
• Notify friends, relatives, business clients and customers of the new area code
• Updating fax machine group calling lists that have numbers affected by the change.
• Reprogramming speed dialers, auto dialers, alarms and PBX (private phone) systems to reflect the change
• Reprogram outdial lists on personal computers that have numbers affected by the change
• Check with their wireless phone and paging service providers as well as Internet Service Providers to see if reprogramming is required.

Make Sure Equipment Can Accommodate The New Area Code
The new 775 area code is part of a series of new-style area code introduced in North America beginning in 1995 that can be any three digits from 200 to 999. This has special implications for certain types of telecommunications equipment, which must be reprogrammed to recognize the new-style area codes, Cocke said.

"Historically, area codes always had either a "1" or "0" as the middle digit for identification purposes, but by 1995 all of those codes had been assigned. However, certain types of telecommunications equipment were built to look for that middle digit of "1" or "0" to process the call.

"Because of this, its important for customers to know that PBX (private phone) systems, auto-dialers, alarms and other telecommunications equipment may have to be re-programmed to recognize these new-style area codes in order for calls to complete." said Cocke. People should check with their vendors to see if their equipment needs to be updated.

A telecommunications industry group comprised of more than 20 companies collectively developed the area code relief plan for Nevada. Area code relief activities for the 702 and 775 area codes are administered by CIS, which was selected by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to serve as the NANPA. NANPA is a neutral, third-party administrator that works with the telecommunications industry in developing area code relief plans and 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.

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