980
Area code
NC
United States geographic area code, in service since 2001-04-01. Part of the 704/980 overlay complex — ten-digit dialing required.
Statusin service
Introduced2001-04-01
JurisdictionNC, US
Local dialing10D
Time zoneEastern
Last verified2026-09-17
Utilization 60.4% of assignable prefixes assigned
As of 09/17/2026
0%478 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 2026-08-12.
Area codes serve rate-center geographies, not municipal boundaries. “NC” identifies the jurisdiction, not an exact city footprint.
Top assignees
Ranked by assigned prefixes · initial assignee ≠ current carrier| Rank | Assignee | Prefixes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | ONVOY, LLC - NC | 86 | 18% |
| 02 | CELLCO PARTNERSHIP DBA VERIZON WIRELESS - NC | 61 | 12.8% |
| 03 | SUNCOM DBA T-MOBILE USA | 48 | 10% |
| 04 | BANDWIDTH.COM CLEC, LLC - NC | 38 | 7.9% |
| 05 | NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC - GA | 26 | 5.4% |
| 06 | BELLSOUTH TELECOMM INC DBA SOUTHERN BELL TEL & TEL | 22 | 4.6% |
| 07 | METROPCS, INC. | 17 | 3.6% |
| 08 | LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC - NC | 16 | 3.3% |
| 09 | TON80 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC | 14 | 2.9% |
| 10 | ONVOY SPECTRUM, LLC | 14 | 2.9% |
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- 2000-04-28 NPA 980 To Overlay NPA 704 (North Carolina)
- 2001-04-01Area code 980 entered service (created from 704).
Planning letters & orders
Primary documents| Date | Document | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| 2001-01-23 | PL-258 ↗ | Revised Mandatory Dialing Date for NPA 704 (North Carolina) |
| 2001-01-09 | PL-256 ↗ | Revised Mandatory 10-Digit Dialing Date for NPA 704/980 (North Carolina) |
| 2000-04-28 | PL-229 ↗ | NPA 980 To Overlay NPA 704 (North Carolina) |
| 1999-12-17 | PL-204 ↗ | NPA 980 to Overlay NPA 704 (North Carolina) |