Cincinnati Bell Telephone customers will experience some minor changes while dialing long distance in the new year.

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 16, 1994--The new year will bring some minor changes in the way Cincinnati Bell Telephone customers dial long distance calls.

North America is running out of telephone numbers. In an effort to prevent a number shortage, a new dialing plan goes into effect January 1, 1995, that will create billions of new numbers.

Under this new dialing plan, Cincinnati Bell Telephone customers will need to dial the area code on every long distance call they make, even to numbers within the same area code. Calls that now require the customer to dial "1" plus the seven-digit code will now have to include the area code. For example, today a customer can dial Dayton by dialing 1 and the seven-digit number. After January 1, the same call will be dialed 1-513 and the seven-digit number. The same procedure applies when a customer dials "0" for operator assistance, such as making a collect call.

The change is necessitated by the growth of telecommunications, things like the increased use of faxes, computers, pagers, cellular phones, and the growing work-at-home trend.

Area codes have, up until now, had "0" or "1" as the middle digit. For example, Ohio's area codes are 216, 419, 513 and 614, Kentucky's are 502 and 606, and Indiana's are 219, 317, and 812. This middle digit allowed telephone company switching equipment to recognize long distance calls and send them accordingly.

However, this system allowed for only 152 combinations of area codes and all of them have been assigned.

Under the new dialing plan, any digit can be used as the middle digit of either the area code or local exchange number. This means there will be an additional 640 new area codes and the existing 152 area codes can be used as local exchange prefixes.

The bottom line to all of this is that we will see an increase in potential telephone numbers from 973 million to 6.27 billion.

Customers in the 513 area code were not in danger of immediately running out of numbers. A new area code...670...has been reserved for the 513 area code territory. It is estimated it will be placed in service sometime around the turn of the century.

Some areas of the country aren't as fortunate. Chicago and Phoenix will be adding area codes from the new numbering plan during January of 1995. A total of 10 new area codes will be activated during 1995.

A good rule of thumb for Cincinnati Bell Telephone customers is if you now dial seven digits, nothing will change. If you now dial "1" or "0" plus 10 digits, nothing will change. But, if you now dial "1" or "0" plus seven digits, after January 1, 1995, you will have to dial "1" or "0" plus 10 digits...the area code, plus the seven digit number.

Cincinnati Bell Telephone will have a special recorded message asking the customer to redial the number if they forget to use the area code on calls requiring it.

Also, as a reminder, all local directory assistance calls...calls for numbers in the Cincinnati Bell Telephone operating area... should be made using 411. Calls for numbers outside the operating area should be made to 1 (the area code) plus 555-1212.

Cincinnati Bell Telephone provides modern telecommunications products and services in a three-state area including portions of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. The company has 874,000 access lines and has customers in an area covering more than 2,400 square miles.

Cincinnati Bell Telephone is a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE:CSN).

CONTACT: Cincinnati Bell Telephone, Cincinnati

Kyle Hill, 513/397-1240