Phone prefixes in Alma

In numbers

In-service prefixes

50

Telephone numbers covered

500,000

Carriers

15

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

2

First assignment

October 19, 2000

Most recent assignment

October 15, 2025

Provinces and territories

This name is used for separate rate centres in 2 provinces. The prefixes below share a name in the CNAC register but belong to different communities.

• Quebec — 48 prefixes
• New Brunswick — 2 prefixes

Alma’s share of its area codes

Within area code 367, Alma accounts for only 17 of 233 prefixes (7.3%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 111 rate centres. Within area code 581, Alma accounts for only 16 of 778 prefixes (2.1%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 232 rate centres. Within area code 418, Alma accounts for only 15 of 777 prefixes (1.9%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 258 rate centres. Within area code 506, Alma accounts for only 2 of 677 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Moncton and spread over 88 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS Mobility holds the largest share at 11 prefixes, 22.0% of the total, ahead of 14 other carriers. Code by code: in 367, TELUS Mobility leads with 7 of 17 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 581, Iristel Inc. leads with 5 of 16 prefixes ahead of 9 others; in 418, Bell Canada leads with 6 of 15 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 506, Aliant Telecom(NB) leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Alma’s 4 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

22 of Alma’s 50 prefixes (44.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), Bell Mobility and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Bell Canada, Iristel Inc, TELUS Quebec and Videotron Ltd. This is a sort by name, not a licence lookup, and a mobile prefix may have been ported to another network since.

How the allocation was built up

Alma’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2025. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 14 prefixes went to 4 carriers. 7 prefixes (14%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 17 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Alma’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada and Aliant Telecom(NB): these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Cogeco Connexion Inc. (2025), Distributel (2018) and Bell Canada (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Alma.

Alma’s 50 prefixes provide 500,000 numbers, which corresponds to a mid-sized city or a well-established suburb that every major carrier wants a slice of.

No single carrier dominates Alma: the leader, TELUS Mobility, holds only 22.0% of the prefixes against 14 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Demand remains steady: 39.5% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2020–2024. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

7 undated in the register.

Dialling a Alma number

Alma is served by 4 overlaid area codes (367, 581, 418 and 506). A 506 number is no more “out of town” than a 367 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Alma shares area codes 367, 581, 418 and 506 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Quebec, Moncton, Saint John, Chicoutimi, Fredericton, Rimouski, Riviere-du-Loup and Miramichi. The largest of them, Quebec, holds 282 prefixes in 367, 418 and 581; the smallest on the list, La Malbaie, has just 18.

What a Alma number tells you

A number attached to Alma tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often TELUS Mobility. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 15 carriers present here or to a VoIP service usable anywhere. Nor does it tell you who is calling: caller ID can be spoofed, and a Quebec area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Alma: code 367-673 is recorded for TELUS Mobility, so every 367-673-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Alma, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Alma prefix

Each row is an in-service central-office code recorded for Alma, with its original holder and year of assignment.

Allocated prefixes

All 50 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec