LOS ANGELES : Area Code for Cellular and Pager Calls to Debut in ’95

California’s 14th area code will be put into service sooner than originally planned.

The 562 prefix is called an overlay area code and will be assigned to cellular and pager users in the 310 area, where available phone numbers are dwindling rapidly.

The new prefix was scheduled to go on line in March, 1996, but Pacific Bell and GTE California said Wednesday that it now will be activated as early as next September.

“The demand for telephone numbers in area code 310 has been spectacular, particularly for cellular and paging services,” said Gene Sherman, Pacific Bell vice president.

The overlay code is designed to increase the pool of numbers to prevent the need for splitting an area code, which would require millions of customers to change their area code, said Mike Murray of GTE California.

In the past three years, more than 4.2 million Southern Californians got new area codes as 909, east of Los Angeles, and 310, on the south and west sides of Los Angeles, were introduced.

The new code initially will be assigned exclusively to new 310 pager and cellular customers, the companies said. The 310 code will not be abolished and its boundaries will not change.

Portable users in the 213 and 818 area codes as well as land line customers will get 562 numbers during the second phase of implementation.