Phone prefixes in Baddeck, NS

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 20, 2003

Most recent assignment

September 22, 2022

Baddeck’s share of its area codes

Within area code 782, Baddeck accounts for only 4 of 456 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Halifax and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 902, Baddeck accounts for only 3 of 782 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Halifax and spread over 175 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Aliant Telecom (NS) holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 28.6% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 782, Bragg Communications Inc. leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 902, Aliant Telecom (NS) leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Baddeck’s 2 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

2 of Baddeck’s 7 prefixes (28.6%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility Aliant and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Aliant Telecom (NS), Bragg Communications Inc and Distributel. 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

Baddeck’s dated assignments run from 2003 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 3 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 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 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Baddeck’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom (NS): this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Mobility Aliant in 2003. The most recent arrivals are Distributel (2022), Bragg Communications Inc. (2016) and TELUS Mobility (2015), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Baddeck.

Baddeck has just 7 prefixes (70,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Baddeck: the leader, Aliant Telecom (NS), holds only 28.6% of the prefixes against 4 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Allocation is mature: only 16.7% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Baddeck numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Baddeck number

Baddeck is served by 2 overlaid area codes (782 and 902). A 902 number is no more “out of town” than a 782 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Baddeck shares area codes 782 and 902 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Halifax, Charlottetown, Sydney, Truro, Amherst, New Glasgow, Kentville and Summerside. The largest of them, Halifax, holds 220 prefixes in 782 and 902; the smallest on the list, Musquodoboit Harbour, has just 12.

What a Baddeck number tells you

A number attached to Baddeck tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Nova Scotia, most often Aliant Telecom (NS). It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 5 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 Nova Scotia area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Baddeck: code 902-295 is recorded for Aliant Telecom (NS), so every 902-295-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Baddeck, Nova Scotia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Baddeck prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 7 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Nova Scotia