New ‘658’ Area Code for Jamaican Phone Numbers

As a part of the many changes that the island has seen since the beginning of the year, Jamaicans will now have to get used to another area code besides the ‘876’ usually dialed before a seven-digit telephone number. This will be the ‘658’ area code.

The OUR (Office of Utility Regulation) has already assigned a central office code under the ‘658’ area code to different service providers who are responsible for distributing “the telephone numbers within a particular code to customers, as needed.” The OUR had mentioned in a press release that the ‘658’ code was implemented due to the lack of “codes to assign under the 876 area code.”

Thus, it is only a matter of time before consumers are able to receive phone numbers with a ‘658’ area code. However, the last seven digits of the 10-digit numbers under the new area code could be numbers that are already in use under the ‘876’ area code.

The statement by the OUR also stated that civilians and business operators alike should make sure that numbers are saved and displayed, whether landline or mobile, with their correct area codes so that 10-digit dialing will run smoothly without the new codes causing a mix-up when dialing similar or matching phone numbers.