The nation's area code administrator issued the new area code after a decision Tuesday by state utility regulators to split the 501 area code to ease a phone number shortage.

Under the Tuesday order, cities including Morrilton, Russellville, Fayetteville and Fort Smith will get the 479 area code, and Little Rock and the rest of central Arkansas will keep 501.

To the chagrin of Arkansas Razorback's faithful, such as the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce, the new code won't be 464, which spells "HOG." Because 464 is a phone prefix in Bentonville, it cannot also be the new area code.

"It wasn't technically possible," said John Bethel, executive director of the state Public Service Commission. "It's too bad. ... It would have been catchy."

What the new area code lacks in panache it makes up for in convenience.

Arkansas residents soundly rejected the idea of dialing 10 digits for local calls -- a measure adopted in other areas of the nation in lieu of an area code switch.

"It's not going to be as simple as 501," said Tom Ginn, vice president of the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce. But "it's a necessity," he said.

Phone companies will recommend when to implement the new code. Carriers are to meet July 26 to discuss a date, said Brinton Ramoly, head of the PSC's telecommunications section.

Bethel anticipates the code will be put in place by late this year. The supply of available phone numbers in the 501 area code is projected to expire in the first quarter of 2002 -- sooner than originally projected.

Under the commission's order, phone companies have until Aug. 9 to file with the PSC their plans for notifying consumers of the new area code and how it will be phased in.

The Public Service Commission did, however, mandate a six-month window allowing callers at least that long to memorize 479.

The grace period also gives businesses such as Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, and the University of Arkansas, the state's flagship public university, time to order new business cards and letterheads.

Besides memorizing the new area code, the biggest challenge for consumers will be reprogramming cell phones, pagers and modems.

The new area code is Arkansas' third. For decades, the state had just one.

In April 1997, the commission added the 870 area code in parts of south, east and northeast Arkansas.

Information for this article was contributed by Dan Zehr of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.