Phone prefixes in Balgonie, SK

In numbers

In-service prefixes

7

Telephone numbers covered

70,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 23, 2014

Most recent assignment

January 18, 2022

Balgonie’s share of its area codes

Within area code 639, Balgonie accounts for only 4 of 776 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Regina and spread over 202 rate centres. Within area code 306, Balgonie accounts for only 3 of 777 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Saskatoon and spread over 228 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Distributel holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 28.6% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 639, Distributel leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 306, SaskTel leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Balgonie’s 2 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Balgonie’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 7 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Distributel, SaskTel, Access Communications Co-operative Limited and Fibernetics Corporation. A call showing a Balgonie number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Balgonie’s dated assignments run from 2014 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 2 prefixes (29%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Balgonie’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to SaskTel: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Access Communications Co-operative Limited in 2014. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022), Fibernetics Corporation (2021) and Distributel (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Balgonie.

Balgonie 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 Balgonie: the leader, Distributel, 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.

Demand remains steady: 40.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2015–2019. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Balgonie number

Balgonie is served by 2 overlaid area codes (639 and 306). A 306 number is no more “out of town” than a 639 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Balgonie shares area codes 639 and 306 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Yorkton, Swift Current and Moosomin. The largest of them, Regina, holds 157 prefixes in 306 and 639; the smallest on the list, Rosthern, has just 12.

What a Balgonie number tells you

A number attached to Balgonie tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Saskatchewan, most often Distributel. 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 Saskatchewan area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Balgonie: code 639-614 is recorded for Distributel, so every 639-614-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Balgonie, Saskatchewan” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Balgonie prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Saskatchewan