Southwestern Ontario is getting a new area code starting next year.

The three digits, 548 will join 519 and 226 as of June 4th of 2016. After that day, residents and businesses requesting a new phone number could get the 548 area code.

Officials attribute the new area code to increased demand driven by increased competition.

“It’s what I sort of refer to it as an explosion of technology” says Glen Brown, Project Manager of the Canadian Numbering Administrator. “We have lots of new technology that people are using, and they don’t even necessarily realize that it may involve a telephone number. It’s cell phones. It’s tablets and other devices that you can send and receive phone calls with.”

The new area code will cover most of Southewestern Ontario including London, Windsor, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Brantford, Sarnia, Woodstock, Stratford and Owen Sound.

The introduction of the new area code won’t affect local calling or long distance, and special numbers like 9-1-1 will also stay the same.

“People that currently have a 519 or a 226 number, that will not change. It will stay the same” adds Brown. “What today is a local call, will remain a local call. What’s a long distance call, will remain a long distance call. And you still get your emergency access by dialling 9-1-1.”