The eastern part of Quebec received area code 418, while area code 514 was assigned for the western part. Nominally, northwestern Quebec, one of the few areas of North America without telephone service, was reassigned from area code 514 to area code 418 in 1957. From the 1950s to the 1970s, area code 418 was also the area code for the eastern Northwest Territories. However, in the 1970s, as direct distance dialling was introduced to the far northern and western portions of 418, those areas were reassigned to area code 819.
Despite Quebec City's rapid growth, by the turn of the millennium, area code 418 was the last of Quebec and Ontario's original four area codes not to have been split. By 2006, however, area code 418 was on the brink of exhaustion because of Canada's system of number allocation. Every competitive local exchange carrier is allocated blocks of 10,000 numbers, which correspond to a single three-digit prefix, for every rate centre in which it plans to offer service, even for small hamlets. Once a number is assigned to a carrier and rate centre, it cannot be moved elsewhere even if a rate centre has more than enough numbers to serve it. That resulted in thousands of wasted numbers, a problem that was worsened by the proliferation of cellphones and pagers, especially in the larger cities. Additionally, a number of "megacities" created in 2002 are split between multiple rate centres, which have never been amalgamated. For example, Saguenay is split between four rate centres.
In 2007, the CRTC assigned area code 581 as an overlay for 418. The implementation of area code 581 began on June 21, 2008 with the start of a permissive dialing period during which local calls could be made with both seven and ten digits. Ten-digit dialing became mandatory in eastern Quebec on September 6, 2008.[1][2]
By 2016, area codes 418 and 581 exceeded once again the threshold for relief planning because of further proliferation of mobile services. In 2017, the CRTC assigned area code 367 as a second overlay code for eastern Quebec. It entered service in 2018.[3] With that action, a total of 23.4 million telephone numbers had been allocated to only 1.8 million people.
After an August 2027 exhaust date for central office codes was determined for the 367/418/581 overlay complex, a relief planning committee was initiated in January 2025,[4] which produced a draft plan with a target relief date of February 27, 2027,[5] and reserved area code 273 as the fourth area code for the region in May 2025,[6] The draft plan was approved by the CRTC on October 10, 2025 and area code 273 was assigned by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA).[7]
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