Phone prefixes in Chicoutimi, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

64

Telephone numbers covered

640,000

Carriers

16

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 12, 2000

Most recent assignment

October 20, 2025

Chicoutimi’s share of its area codes

Within area code 418, Chicoutimi accounts for only 30 of 777 prefixes (3.9%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 258 rate centres. Within area code 581, Chicoutimi accounts for only 24 of 778 prefixes (3.1%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 232 rate centres. Within area code 367, Chicoutimi accounts for only 10 of 232 prefixes (4.3%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 110 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Mobility holds the largest share at 16 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 15 other carriers. Code by code: in 418, Bell Canada leads with 11 of 30 prefixes ahead of 8 others; in 581, Iristel Inc. leads with 5 of 24 prefixes ahead of 10 others; in 367, Bell Mobility leads with 9 of 10 prefixes ahead of 1 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Chicoutimi’s 3 area codes, while 11 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

27 of Chicoutimi’s 64 prefixes (42.2%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility, TELUS Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Bell Canada, Videotron Ltd, Iristel Inc and TELUS Quebec. 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

Chicoutimi’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2025. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 13 prefixes went to 10 carriers. 14 prefixes (22%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 12 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Chicoutimi’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada, TELUS Mobility and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless): 4 carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Videotron Ltd. in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Cogeco Connexion Inc. (2025), Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2017) and Bell Canada (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Chicoutimi.

Chicoutimi’s 64 prefixes provide 640,000 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 Chicoutimi: the leader, Bell Mobility, holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 15 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: 24.0% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2010–2014. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

14 undated in the register.

Dialling a Chicoutimi number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Chicoutimi shares area codes 418, 581 and 367 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Quebec, Alma, Rimouski, Riviere-du-Loup, Thetford Mines, Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, Levis and Saint-Georges-de-Beauce. The largest of them, Quebec, holds 282 prefixes in 367, 418 and 581; the smallest on the list, Chandler, has just 13.

What a Chicoutimi number tells you

A number attached to Chicoutimi tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often Bell Mobility. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 16 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 Chicoutimi: code 418-540 is recorded for Bell Mobility, so every 418-540-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Chicoutimi, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Chicoutimi prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 64 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec