Officials from the North Carolina Utilities Commission announced on August 20, 2014, that 336 would be overlaid with a new area code, 743. The new area code would require 10-digit dialing for local calls, although no long-distance charges would be applied within the 336 territory. Those who already had 336 numbers kept them, easing the burden of having to change phone numbers.The new area code was to be used primarily for issuing new numbers, and was needed because 336 was projected to be exhausted sometime in 2016. The activation of 743 broke seven-digit dialing throughout the I-85 Corridor in North Carolina; Charlotte (704/980) and the Triangle (919/984) had already been overlaid. At the time, 336 was one of the few urbanized area codes without an overlay, making the Triad one of the few large metropolitan areas in the South where seven-digit dialing was still possible.
