Iowa Utilities Board Splits 515 Area Code
New Code To Be Announced Shortly

Des Moines , IA (Tuesday February 1, 2000) --
Iowa Utilities Board splits 515 area code

Utilities' regulators split central Iowa's 515 area code Monday, a decision that will give businesses and residents in more than half the area a new area code this spring.

The three-member Iowa Utilities Board, faced with a rapidly growing service area that is running out of telephone numbers, said a two-way split would be less disruptive than an overlay system.

That system, initially favored by the telephone industry, would have allowed current customers to retain the 515 code and required all new customers to get the new one. But that meant phone lines in a family's home, for example, could have had different area codes.

"This preserves seven-digit dialing in most places," said Allan Thoms, board chairman.

The decision also was seen as a boost for competition. An overlay could be a "burden" for new carriers in the 515 area unable to give their customers the more recognizable number, board spokesman Chuck Seel said.

Cities retaining the 515 area code include Des Moines, Ames, Algona, Fort Dodge and Winterset. Cities getting a new area code include Mason City, Marshalltown, Grinnell, Newton and Ottumwa.
The new area code is a jagged J-shape, with the curve running south of Des Moines and wrapping up as far north as northern Guthrie County.

The split runs along exchange lines, meaning counties are divided. Local calls won't be assessed differently, though callers will have to dial the new area code and the number, board member Diane Munns said.

It could take two months before the new area code number is known. The number will be assigned by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator.

The change will be implemented June 1, when callers will hear a recording that says the number code is changing. By Sept. 1, the changeover would be complete.

Telephone companies will be allowed to comment on that time frame, a month shorter than they had recommended.

"It shouldn't be that difficult to implement," said Lynn Gipple, a spokeswoman for US West, the largest telephone service provider in the state, with about 750,000 customers. There are about 160 local carriers in the state.

The 515 area was expected to run out of telephone numbers in March 2001.

In Eastern Iowa, projections call for the 319 area code to run out of available numbers in 2002, board spokesman Seel said.

"It has not gone into jeopardy like 515," Seel said.

State officials expect to hold public hearings this spring to begin addressing the exhaustion of the 319 area code capacity.

Industry officials say there are an estimated 7 million telephone numbers available in each of Iowa's three existing area codes.

But the carrier's request would have left the area without numbers as soon as November, David Lynch, deputy general counsel for the board, said.

A two-way split should last eight years, while a three-way split would last as many as 20 years, Munns said. Technological advances or changes in how numbers are given out likely will happen within the eight-year window, she said.

The decision should not affect customer rates, Munns said.

And it does not matter much to John Brady of Oskaloosa, who will have to change his area code.

"It's no big deal, you know, once you kind of got onto it," the manager of Brady's Shoe Store said. "I don't think it would make any difference really."