Phone prefixes in Banff, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

31

Telephone numbers covered

310,000

Carriers

13

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 6, 2001

Most recent assignment

October 15, 2025

Banff’s share of its area codes

Within area code 587, Banff accounts for only 10 of 779 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 403, Banff accounts for only 9 of 781 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 825, Banff accounts for only 7 of 769 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres. Within area code 368, Banff accounts for only 5 of 78 prefixes (6.4%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 10 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS Mobility holds the largest share at 7 prefixes, 22.6% of the total, ahead of 12 other carriers. Code by code: in 587, TELUS Mobility leads with 2 of 10 prefixes ahead of 7 others; in 403, TELUS leads with 3 of 9 prefixes ahead of 6 others; in 825, Iristel Inc. leads with 3 of 7 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 368, TELUS Mobility leads with 3 of 5 prefixes ahead of 1 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Banff’s 4 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

11 of Banff’s 31 prefixes (35.5%) 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 Iristel Inc, TELUS, IXICA 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

Banff’s dated assignments run from 2001 to 2025. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 8 prefixes went to 5 carriers. 3 prefixes (10%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 11 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Banff’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS and TELUS Mobility: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS in 2001. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2021), IXICA Communications Inc. (2018) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Banff.

Banff’s 31 prefixes provide 310,000 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 Banff: the leader, TELUS Mobility, holds only 22.6% of the prefixes against 12 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: 39.3% 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.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Banff number

Banff is served by 4 overlaid area codes (587, 403, 825 and 368). A 368 number is no more “out of town” than a 587 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Banff shares area codes 587, 403, 825 and 368 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray, High River and Canmore. The largest of them, Calgary, holds 756 prefixes in 368, 403, 587 and 825; the smallest on the list, Fox Creek, has just 14.

What a Banff number tells you

A number attached to Banff tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, 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 13 carriers present here or to a VoIP service usable anywhere. Nor does it tell you who is calling: caller ID can be spoofed, and an Alberta area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Banff: code 587-222 is recorded for TELUS Mobility, so every 587-222-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Banff, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Banff prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 31 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta