Area codes 204 and 431

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The area serviced by area codes 204 and 431 in blue with neighbouring provinces, territories and U.S. states in other colours

Area codes 204 and 431 are the North American telephone area codes for the Canadian province of Manitoba, encompassing the province. 204 is one of the original 86 area codes assigned in 1947 in the contiguous United States and the then-nine-province extent of Canada.

The incumbent local exchange carrier for the 204 and 431 area codes is MTS.

In 2009 the Canadian Numbering Administrator forecast that area code 204 would be exhausted within a few years, despite there only being 1.2 million people in the entire province. While an area code typically holds 7.8 million possible numbers, Canada uses an allocation scheme by which competitive local exchange carriers receive 10,000-number blocks for even the smallest hamlets, rather than implementing number pooling. While most rural rate centres do not need so many numbers, it was not possible to assign a number elsewhere once it was allocated to a rate centre. The situation was exacerbated by the proliferation of cell phones, particularly in 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] This decision, rather than a geographical split of the area code, was made because MTS and other carriers in the province wanted to spare their customers, particularly in rural areas, the expense and burden of having to change their numbers.

Communities included[edit]

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[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Telecom Decision CRTC 2010-526: Code relief for area code 204 in Manitoba". Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Retrieved 2014-06-02. 
  2. ^ "10-digit dialing for Manitoba starts Sunday". CBC News. 2012-07-26. Retrieved 2014-06-02. 


External links[edit]

Manitoba area codes: 204, 431
North: 867
West: 306, 639 204/431 East: 807, 819/873
South: 701, 218
Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut area codes: 867
Saskatchewan area codes: 306, 639
Ontario area codes: 226, 249, 289, 343, 365, 416, 519, 613, 647, 705, 807, 905
Quebec area codes: 418, 438, 450, 514, 579, 581, 819
Minnesota area codes: 218, 320, 507, 612, 651, 763, 952
North Dakota area codes: 701
Canada
Caribbean
Oceania
United States

Coordinates: 55°4′30″N 97°31′30″W / 55.07500°N 97.52500°W / 55.07500; -97.52500 (Area code 204/431)

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