THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407070497
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Virginia News
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
A new 540 area code that goes into effect next summer will serve about 1 million customers in the western part of the state as well as sections of Northern Virginia, Bell Atlantic said Wednesday.
Bell Atlantic announced last March its intent to create a new area code in the region currently served by the 703 area code. The 540 code will serve customers from Lee County in the far southwest to Winchester and Leesburg in the north and Fredericksburg in the east.
Areas keeping the current 703 area code are the heavily populated Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William counties, the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, and a portion of eastern Loudoun County.
The state's other area code, 804, serves central and eastern Virginia. In May, customers there were asked to include the numbers 804 when placing a long distance call to another customer in their same area code. The change gave local telephone companies more numbering possibilities.
The new area code takes effect on July 15, 1995. Callers will then have a year of adjustment in which they can use either the 504 or 703 code, Bell Atlantic spokesman Paul Miller said.
Rates will not be affected, Miller said.
The new area code is necessary because numeric possibilities for telephone numbers in southwestern and Northern Virginia are rapidly being depleted, Miller said.
Much of the growth in telephone numbers is due to the growing popularity of fax machines, cellular phones and pagers, Miller said.
``We're continuing to see growth in telephone lines,'' Miller said. He said there are 792 exchange code possibilities - the first three digits of a phone number - in the existing 703 area, but fewer than 100 codes are left.
Miller said more than 1 million telephone access lines will switch to the 540 code. About 1,350,000 lines will stay in the 703 code.
The 540 code was issued to Bell Atlantic by Bell Communications Research Inc., the administrator of the North America Numbering Plan.
KEYWORDS: TELEPHONE NUMBER AREA CODE by CNB