Manitoba outgrows area code

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This article was published 15/04/2010 (5721 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Remember this number: 431.

It’s likely going to be the new area code assigned to new Manitoba phone numbers in early 2013.

And by then, you’ll have to dial 10 digits just to call your neighbour across the street, even using the existing 204 area code.

A second area code and 10-digit dialing are coming to Manitoba as a result of an explosion of cellphone numbers, competitive land-line carriers and natural population growth, said Glenn Pilley, director of the Canadian Numbering Administrator, which co-ordinates new area-code allocations across the country.

"There are about 23 million cellphone numbers in Canada and that’s three million more than the total number of land lines," Pilley said, adding the rapid explosion of new cellphone numbers has nearly consumed the supply of existing phone numbers.

"It seems that whenever a kid can talk, he gets a cellphone."

Pilley said Manitoba is expected to run out of its allocation of seven-digit telephone numbers by May 2013.

A committee of service providers has been meeting to come up with a set of recommendations to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission, which will formalize when the new area code will come into effect and how it will be applied.

"Generally, the commission accepts our recommendations but not always," Pilley said.

Pilley said the 204 committee is expected to finalize its recommendations within weeks but the tentative plan is:

— A second area code will come into place between May and October or November of 2012.

— The new area code will be 431.

— Telephone subscribers will have to dial the appropriate area code and the existing seven-digit number to make a local call.

— The first 431 numbers will likely be assigned in early 2013 to new cellphone customers.

— New landline customers will get their numbers with the 431 area code in late May 2013.

There will be a phase-in period leading up to the introduction of the new area code, Pilley said, adding callers will first get a recorded message reminding them to dial 10 digits and then, closer to the date, a recorded message will state the call will not go through unless they hang up and dial all 10 numbers.

Pilley said the 431 number was one of 35 additional area codes assigned to Canada. It was chosen for Manitoba as a result of "a mathematical process that involves six spreadsheets."

"That number has not been cast in stone but that’s the committee’s recommendation, to go with 431," Pilley said.

Ten-digit dialing will not mean more long-distance charges, he said, adding calls that are local now will remain local. Long-distance numbers within the province will still need the 1 followed by the 10-digit number.

The timing of the implementation is dependent on how long it takes Manitoba Telecom Services to convert switches across the province to accommodate a second area code and when the CRTC makes its final decision, he said.

The committee’s recommendations were to have been finalized next month but that was delayed this week when MTS said it needed more time to determine how it can accommodate the physical changes required.

"Manitoba Telephone has a lot of real work to do," Pilley said. "They haven’t figure out how they’ll convert all the switches across the province in time."

Pilley said the decision to go to 10-digit dialing was done to be consistent with the rest of the country, adding it avoids confusion with areas with more than one area code.

Pilley said the committee had considered splitting the province into two geographical zones and assigning a new area code to one of those areas.

"The problem is, whenever we’ve done that both areas want to retain the old area-code number," Pilley said. The solution, he said, was to assign a new area code to new subscribers regardless of where they are when the existing inventory of numbers runs out.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca