'406' to be state's lone area code until 2022

Montanans can hang on to “406” as their sole area code for a little bit longer.

The organization that forecasts when and if states will have to add area codes expects that Montana won’t hit that critical mass until 2022.

Previously, the North American Numbering Plan Administration had anticipated that Montana would run out of “406” telephone numbers in 2019. The administration is a contractor for the Federal Communications Commission, which announced last week that Montana regulatory actions have extended the life of 406 as the exclusive area code for the entire state.

The Montana Public Service Commission issued a rule in 2013 that required telephone service providers to recycle unused numbers.

“They’d get blocks of 1,000 numbers, and in some of the more rural parts of the state, not all those numbers would be used by the service providers,” commission spokesman Eric Sell said on Monday. “[The rule] required that some of those unused numbers be put back into a pool that all of the state could draw from.”

The Big Sky state is one of 12 in the country with only one area code. Idaho’s “208” is on track to lose that distinction in 2018.

“On the commission we feel that a lot of people are proud of the 406 number,” Sell said, noting that many businesses throughout the state have incorporated it into their names.

There also are more practical reasons for pushing the deadline back.

Sell said there is a significant logistical challenge to bringing a new area code online in a state. Usually, it’s done via one of two methods.

The “geographical split” would allow residents in part of the state to retain the 406 area code, while those living in another part of the state would have to change their numbers.

The other method is the “overlay,” where all new phone numbers — regardless of location — would be subject to the new area code.

Sell said the commission hasn’t discussed which approach it would likely employ, but barring another extension, the commission is required to begin planning in 2019, three years ahead of the deadline.

He added that the commission will continue searching for ways to push the deadline out farther.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.