New year, new area code.
After more than 70 years, 516 will no longer be Nassau County’s only assigned area code.
Instead, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator told Newsday on Friday that phone service carriers can start assigning 363 to the beginning of new phone numbers issued in Nassau County when the area code enters into effect on Jan. 20.
It will be a shift for the county’s nearly 1.4 million residents.
According to the report, the change was made when it was determined that all 10-digit phone numbers in 516 would soon run out.
The 516 area code now has just 20 prefixes — the first three digits of a seven-digit number — down from 792. Until those are combinations are taken, carriers cannot assign the new area code.
Heidi Wayman, data management manager for NANPA, which manages the assignment of area codes nationwide, told Newsday that the “timing is difficult to estimate.”
According to NANPA’s most current prediction, the current area code will likely reach its prefix limit in the first quarter of 2024.
However, the end date has changed throughout the past year, with earlier projections putting it as early as spring 2023.