Area code 859

When the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) designed the first nationwide telephone numbering plan, Kentucky was designated as a single numbering plan area (NPA) and assigned the area code 502 in 1947. In a repartitioning of the state in 1954, the eastern half was renumbered with area code 606. In 1999, the western half was assigned area code 270 in 1999.

Area code 859 was created in 1999 in a split of the 606 numbering plan area. On the alpha-numeric telephone keypad, 859 spells UKY, a nod to the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

In area code splits, traditional practice has been that the region with the largest city or most established communities retain the existing area code to minimize disruption to existing businesses and the community. Thus, Lexington and Northern Kentucky might have retained 606. Lexington was by far the largest city in the numbering plan area. Combined, Lexington and Northern Kentucky accounted for two-thirds of the population, along with the great majority of its landlines and cell phones. However, several counties in eastern Kentucky are among the poorest in the nation. The Kentucky Public Service Commission and BellSouth (now part of AT&T), then the region's main carrier, decided to let the rural region retain 606 to spare this area the expense and burden of renumbering.

Prior to October 2021, area code 859 had telephone numbers assigned for the central office code 988. In 2020, 988 was designated nationwide as a dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which created a conflict for exchanges that permit seven-digit dialing. This area code was therefore scheduled to transition to ten-digit dialing by October 24, 2021.^[1]

By 2023 projections, 859 was not expected to exhaust its central office code supply until about 2047.^[2]

History

Service area

See also

References

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