901
Area code

TN

United States geographic area code, in service since 1947-01-01.

Created 731.

Statusin service
Introduced1947-01-01
JurisdictionTN, US
Local dialing7D
Time zoneCentral
Last verified2026-09-17
Utilization 81.4% of assignable prefixes assigned As of 09/17/2026
0%645 of ~792 assignable NXX values (200–999 excl. N11)100%

Prefix-level assignment does not equal number-level exhaustion; thousands-block pooling extends capacity. First assignment on record 2001-01-23, most recent 2026-08-13.

Area codes serve rate-center geographies, not municipal boundaries. “TN” identifies the jurisdiction, not an exact city footprint.

Top assignees

Ranked by assigned prefixes · initial assignee ≠ current carrier
Largest initial assignees in area code 901
RankAssigneePrefixesShare
01 BELLSOUTH TELECOMM INC DBA SOUTH CENTRAL BELL TEL 175 27.1%
02 NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC - GA 93 14.4%
03 POWERTEL MEMPHIS LICENSES, INC. 64 9.9%
04 CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS - TN 36 5.6%
05 MCIMETRO ACCESS TRANSMISSION SERVICES LLC 35 5.4%
06 ONVOY, LLC - TN 34 5.3%
07 BANDWIDTH.COM CLEC, LLC - TN 17 2.6%
08 SPOK, INC. 16 2.5%
09 LEVEL 3 TELECOM OF TENNESSEE, LLC - TN 15 2.3%
10 TELEPORT COMMUNICATIONS AMERICA, LLC - TN 14 2.2%

Important: these are initial assignees from NANPA CO-code records — the carrier a prefix was originally assigned to. Because of number portability, the current serving carrier of any individual number may differ.

Change history

Recorded events for this NPA
  • 1947-01-01Area code 901 entered service.

Planning letters & orders

Primary documents
NANPA planning letters for area code 901
DateDocumentSubject
2000-10-30 PL-247 ↗ 901 NPA Split, Creating 731 NPA (Tennessee)
2000-04-17 PL-224 ↗ Extraordinary NPA-Specific Jeopardy Conservation Procedures Announced for the 901 NPA (Tennessee)

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