PROVO — Institution of area code 385 in northern Utah has been put off again.
The area code was to have gone into effect on March 30, but has been delayed until that date next year.
After the change is made, 801 will be the area code for only Salt Lake County, and 385 will be the area code for the remaining areas that used 801, including Utah, Weber, Davis and Morgan counties.
"It has been determined through the conservation of 801 numbers and consolidations that there are enough numbers to last another year," said Caroline Roemer, spokeswoman for Qwest in Utah.
Delaying the change was approved by the Utah Public Service Commission. The 385 area code is now scheduled to begin March 30, 2003, but 801 will continue to work until September 30, 2003.
The North American Numbering Plan Administrator, which oversees area code and telephone-number assignments nationwide, told the PSC in 1999 that 801 numbers would be exhausted by mid-2001.
The code was set to go into effect on Dec. 31, 2000, but the starting date was pushed back until this month when it was decided that there still were plenty of 801 numbers available.
The PSC launched a campaign to conserve unused 801 numbers, and it required telecommunications companies seeking additional numbers to prove they were using 90 percent of the numbers they have been assigned.