Area codes 803 and 839

The numbering plan area (NPA) is anchored by the city of Columbia, the state capital.

839, an all-service overlay, was approved by the South Carolina Public Service Commission in 2019.

While this was intended as a long-term solution, the rapid growth of telecommunication service in Columbia, the Charlotte suburbs, and the coastal region brought 803 back to the brink of exhaustion within two years.

This implementation made ten-digit dialing mandatory in the numbering plan area as of April 2020.

Previously, a permissive ten-digit dialing period began in late October 2019.