730 area code joins 618, now in effect in southern Illinois

The Illinois Commerce Commission said the new 730 area code was introduced on Friday.

It will overlay the existing 618 area code because the commission ran out of available prefixes for assignment in the region.

The 618 area code covers all or parts of 37 counties in Illinois, from Cairo and Metropolis to Mt. Vernon and Centralia.

From now on, customers in the 618 area code overlay region may be assigned a number in the new 730 area code when they request new service or an additional line.

Customers receiving the 730 area code will be required to dial 10 digits (the area code and phone number) for all local calls.

The 618 area code is one of the original 86 area codes in the United States assigned by Bell Laboratories in 1947.

The additional area code for southern Illinois has been in the works for more than two decades. A petition claiming the need for a second area code in southern Illinois was filed in 2000, and approved in 2006. Efforts to conserve existing phone numbers delayed the need for the new area code until now.