Area code 403

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Alberta's numbering plan areas and area codes Alberta area codes 2022.png
Alberta's numbering plan areas and area codes

Area code 403 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of Alberta. The numbering plan area encompasses the southern third of the province, which includes the Calgary area. This numbering plan area is also served by area codes 587, 825, and 368, which form a complex overlay for all of Alberta.

Contents

History

Area code 403 was one of nine Canadian area codes of the original North American area codes assigned by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1947. Its numbering plan area (NPA) originally comprised the entire province of Alberta. During the course of the expansion of telephone service in the Canadian territories, these were serviced primarily with the same area code until the territories received area code 867 on October 21, 1997. [1]

Within only a year, area code 403 was threatened by exhaustion because of the rapid growth of telecommunication services demand for pagers, cellphones, and computer modems, as well as growing competition among providers. On January 25, 1999, the northern two thirds of Alberta, including Edmonton, was split from 403 and assigned the new area code 780. Generally, everything from Red Deer, Lacombe, and Ponoka southward stayed in 403. Permissive dialing of 403 continued across the province until May 18, 1999.

Within a decade, area code 403 was close to exhaustion once again. The projected exhaust date was March 2009. [2] The solution for mitigation was to implement area code 587 as a province-wide overlay for both numbering plan areas of the province. [3] [4] [5] Optional ten-digit dialing began on June 23, 2008 and became mandatory on September 12, 2008. [6] On September 20, 2008, Telus Mobility began to assign 587 telephone numbers to new customers in Calgary and Edmonton.

On April 9, 2016, all three numbering plan areas of the province were overlaid with an additional area code, 825. [7]

On January 21, 2022, the province was once again overlaid with another area code, 368. [8] [9]

Local exchange carriers

The incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) in 403 is Telus. Prior to 1997, the larger 403 included EdTel (Edmonton Telephones, now part of Telus) and Northwestel as ILECs. Before 1990, Telus was known as Alberta Government Telephones and was a provincial government department. [10]

Service area and central office codes

See also

Related Research Articles

References

  1. "Status of Numbering Plan Area (NPA) Codes in World Zone 1" (PDF). Bellcore (NANPA). 1993-01-13. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  2. Canadian Numbering Administrator Website
  3. "Planning Letter PL-364: NPA 587 to Overlay NPAs 403 and 780 (Alberta, Canada)" (PDF). NANPA. 2007-07-27.
  4. "Planning Letter PL-369: NPA 587 to Overlay NPAs 403 and 780 (Alberta, Canada)" (PDF). NANPA. 2007-10-15.
  5. "Planning Letter PL-374: NPA 587 to Overlay NPAs 403 and 780 (Alberta, Canada)" (PDF). NANPA. 2008-02-26.
  6. "Let your fingers do the 10-digit walking". CBC News. 2008-06-23.
  7. "Alberta set to dial up new 825 area code, CRTC announces". Calgary Sun. 2013-10-30. Archived from the original on 2015-07-31. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
  8. "Telecom Decision CRTC 2019-130". CRTC. 2019-05-03. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  9. "Telecom Decision CRTC 2021-101". CRTC. 2021-03-05.
  10. "Alberta Government Telephones (AGT)".
Alberta area codes: 403, 587/825/368, 780
North: 780/368/587/825
West: 250/778/236/672 403 (overlaid with 368, 587, and 825)East: 306/639
South: 406
British Columbia area codes: 236/672/778, 250, 604
Saskatchewan area codes: 306, 639
Montana area codes: 406

50°17′53″N112°38′20″W / 50.298°N 112.639°W / 50.298; -112.639