New area code for northern part of region

ALBANY – The State Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved a new area code for portions of the northern Hudson Valley/Catskills region.
The new 838 area code will provide additional phone numbers for residents and businesses in the existing 518 area code region. The new area code will be activated by the third quarter of 2017.
Among the 17 counties to be assigned the new area code are Columbia and Greene and a portion of Dutchess.
Once the new code is activated, new phone numbers could be assigned to either the 518 or 838 area code, depending on when the 518 numbers run out in each of the 140 rate centers, or geographic areas that determine the boundaries for local calling, billing and assigning of phone numbers.