207 area code preserved for years

Maine regulators said they’ve found a way to prevent Maine from losing its sole 207 area code in the foreseeable future.

The Public Utilities Commission has approved a plan by Consolidated Communications to move 150 centers that designate local numbers into a statewide pool.

Those centers distribute telephone numbers by local area, but have a limited number of permutations.

Creating a bigger area will make those numbers available statewide, said Sarah Davis, Consolidated Vice President of Market Development.

Effectively, it unlocks a stockpile of unused 207 numbers from small rural areas that can be used in more populous parts of the state, Davis added.

“When the Commission needs new numbers to assign to the next customer, it can pull from anywhere. It can pull from Wytopitlock. It could pull from places in Aroostook County, which probably are not at full utilization,” she said.

Losing 207 as Maine’s only area code and totem of state identity has been a source of stress and concern for years. Back in 2020, it was feared Maine might exhaust its available numbers within four years.

The state forestalled that and extended the area code’s lifetime through 2033.

Consolidated’s plans is likely to add more time, said PUC Chair Phil Bartlett.

“We say, sort of indefinitely, it’s my guess is this will kick us out 20 plus years to get us into the 2050s,” he added.