Area codes 204, 431, and 584 explained

Area codes 204, 431, and 584 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of Manitoba. Area code 204 is one of the nine original North American area codes assigned to Canada in 1947. Area codes 431 and 584 were assigned to the same numbering plan area (NPA) in 2012 and 2022, respectively, forming an overlay complex.

History

When the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) designed the first comprehensive North American telephone numbering plan in the 1940s, Manitoba was designated as a single numbering plan area (NPA) with area code 204.

In 2009, the Canadian Numbering Administrator forecast that area code 204 would be exhausted within a few years even though there were only 1.2 million people in the entire province. An area code provides about 7.8 million telephone numbers, but Canada uses an allocation scheme that allots all ten thousand numbers of a central office prefix to competitive local exchange carriers even for the smallest hamlets. Canada does not implement number pooling. Therefore, once a number is allocated to a rate centre, it cannot be reassigned elsewhere even if a rate centre has more than enough numbers to service it. The number exhaustion was caused by the proliferation of cell phones, particularly in and around Winnipeg.

In July 2010, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved a province-wide overlay with area code 431 for implementation in November 2012.[1] On July 30, 2012, 10-digit dialing became mandatory throughout the province.[2] Although that had the effect of allocating about 15.6 million numbers to a province of just over 1.2 million people, MTS and other carriers in the province preferred that method to a geographical split, which would have seen one part of the province retain area code 204 and another part receive the new area code 431. The province's telephone companies wanted to spare Manitobans the expense and burden of changing telephone numbers.

Area code 584 was reserved as a third area code for the region in February 2017.[3] It was implemented on October 29, 2022.[4] [5]

The incumbent local exchange carrier for the area codes is Bell MTS.

Service area and central office codes

Calls to the following communities can be direct-dialed from Winnipeg as a local call: Dugald, Lockport, Lorette, Oakbank, St. Adolphe, St. Francois Xavier, Sanford, Starbuck, Stonewall, and Stony Mountain.

See also

References

External links

55.075°N -97.525°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Telecom Decision CRTC 2010-526: Code relief for area code 204 in Manitoba . 28 July 2010 . Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission . 2014-06-02.
  2. Web site: 10-digit dialing for Manitoba starts Sunday . CBC News . 2012-07-26 . 2014-06-02.
  3. Web site: Telecom Decision CRTC 2017-38 . . 2017-02-03.
  4. Web site: Area Code 584 - Details, official location, official service date, history and time zone.
  5. NANPA, Planning Letter PL-584 (2022-02-26), NPA 584 to Overlay NPA 204/431 (Manitoba)

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