Maine PUC Extends 207 Area Code 'Indefinitely' via Rate Center Consolidation
The Maine Public Utilities Commission cleared Consolidated Communications to consolidate 135 rate centers into one in an effort to extend the life of the state’s 207 area code, the commission said Tuesday. It would be the largest consolidation of its…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
kind in any state, the Maine PUC said. Commissioners voted 3-0 during a webcast meeting to approve the maneuver, whose aim is reducing demand for numbering resources and allowing telcos to use more existing resources (docket 2023-00009). Consolidated expects to complete the consolidation by the end of 2025, and it doesn’t “appear there will be significant technical hurdles or complications for other carriers,” said commission Chair Philip Bartlett. “With this, we think we can potentially extend the 207 area code well into the future, perhaps indefinitely.” Bartlett directed staff to provide regular updates about implementation. Commissioner Patrick Scully applauded the decision as “one of the biggest successes we’ve had so far in this long effort to preserve the 207 area code” and a “nation-leading effort” that other states could seek to replicate. The Maine PUC previously said that the planned rate center consolidation could be a model as the U.S. faces possible number exhaustion in the next 25 years (see 2309220060).