Phone prefixes in Blackie, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

4

Telephone numbers covered

40,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

March 22, 2016

Most recent assignment

January 25, 2023

Blackie’s share of its area codes

Within area code 587, Blackie accounts for only 2 of 779 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 403, Blackie accounts for only 1 of 781 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 825, Blackie accounts for only 1 of 769 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Distributel holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 587, Distributel leads with 1 of 2 prefixes ahead of 1 others; TELUS is the only holder in 403; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 825. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Blackie’s 3 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

None of Blackie’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 4 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them Distributel, Fibernetics Corporation, IXICA Communications Inc and TELUS. A call showing a Blackie number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Blackie’s dated assignments run from 2016 to 2023. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 prefixes (25%) 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.

Blackie’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Distributel in 2016. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2023), IXICA Communications Inc. (2018) and Distributel (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Blackie.

Blackie has just 4 prefixes (40,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Blackie: the leader, Distributel, holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 3 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: 33.3% 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.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Blackie number

Blackie is served by 3 overlaid area codes (587, 403 and 825). A 825 number is no more “out of town” than a 587 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Blackie shares area codes 587, 403 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray, High River and Banff. The largest of them, Calgary, holds 711 prefixes in 403, 587 and 825; the smallest on the list, Stettler, has just 15.

What a Blackie number tells you

A number attached to Blackie tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, most often Distributel. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 4 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 Blackie: code 587-508 is recorded for Distributel, so every 587-508-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Blackie, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Blackie prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 4 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta