Phone prefixes in Bic, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

2

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 16, 2018

Most recent assignment

March 16, 2021

Bic’s share of its area codes

Within area code 367, Bic accounts for only 1 of 232 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 110 rate centres. Within area code 418, Bic accounts for only 1 of 777 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 258 rate centres. Within area code 581, Bic accounts for only 1 of 778 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 232 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS Quebec holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 66.7% of the total, ahead of 1 other carrier. Code by code: TELUS Quebec is the only holder in 367; TELUS Quebec is the only holder in 418; Bell Canada is the only holder in 581. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Bic’s 3 area codes, while 1 appears in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Bic’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 3 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them TELUS Quebec and Bell Canada. A call showing a Bic number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Bic’s dated assignments run from 2018 to 2021. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 1 prefixes went to 1 carrier. 1 prefixes (33%) 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.

Bic’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS Quebec: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Canada in 2018. The most recent arrivals are TELUS Quebec (2021) and Bell Canada (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Bic.

Bic has just 3 prefixes (30,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

TELUS Quebec leads with 66.7% of the prefixes, but 1 competitors have set up in Bic: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Growth is recent: 50.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2015–2019. Bic is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Bic number

Bic is served by 3 overlaid area codes (367, 418 and 581). A 581 number is no more “out of town” than a 367 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Bic shares area codes 367, 418 and 581 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Quebec, Chicoutimi, Alma, Rimouski, Riviere-du-Loup, Thetford Mines, Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce and Levis. The largest of them, Quebec, holds 282 prefixes in 367, 418 and 581; the smallest on the list, Saint-Henri-de-Levis, has just 16.

What a Bic number tells you

A number attached to Bic tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often TELUS Quebec. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 2 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 Bic: code 367-442 is recorded for TELUS Quebec, so every 367-442-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Bic, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Bic prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 3 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec