Isolating the most concentrated areas of access and increasing the life span of a new area code has prompted the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to redesign proposed boundary lines of the new 740 area code.

"Nobody likes to do this, it's expensive and confusing," PUCO media director Dick Kimmins said.

The new area code boundaries drawn last week, called the Franklin County Plan, will include parts of Wyandot, Marion, Union, Madison and Delaware counties. Only Columbus and its urban suburbs will retain the original 614 area code.

According to a press release, the new plan will keep 49 percent of the current 614 numbers in that area code. This new plan also will provide an approximate life span of eight years for the 614 area code and 15 years for the new 740 area code.

Kimmins said the mandatory dialing period will begin midnight June 6.

The new 740 area code will have no effect on the cost of existing local calls. Dialing a local number from the new 740 area code will not result in a long distance phone charge, even if it is in the old 614 area.

PUCO has ordered Ameritech to file this new plan for approval with Bellcore, the national number administrator, by Nov. 14. Ameritech anticipates the permissive dialing period will begin Dec. 6, said spokeswoman for Ameritech Kim Norris in Columbus.

Ameritech is part of the Industry group, a team of 25 telecommunications companies who originally suggested how to split the area codes. The new number was needed to meet increasing demands for numbers for fax machines, cellular phones and ATM credit cards.

The new boundaries will cut through some of the counties north and west of Columbus, because the telephone exchanges are not created in respect to county lines, city limits or school districts, Kimmins said.

For example, the 378 exchange in Coolville stretches from Athens county into Washington county.

"I do not know of anywhere (exchanges) do not divide a community," he said.