Phone prefixes in Digby, NS

In numbers

In-service prefixes

13

Telephone numbers covered

130,000

Carriers

8

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

October 24, 2001

Most recent assignment

June 20, 2024

Digby’s share of its area codes

Within area code 902, Digby accounts for only 8 of 782 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Halifax and spread over 175 rate centres. Within area code 782, Digby accounts for only 5 of 456 prefixes (1.1%): the code is dominated by Halifax and spread over 142 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 4 prefixes, 30.8% of the total, ahead of 7 other carriers. Code by code: in 902, Aliant Telecom (NS) leads with 2 of 8 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 782, Iristel Inc. leads with 4 of 5 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Digby’s 2 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

4 of Digby’s 13 prefixes (30.8%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility Aliant, Fido Solutions Inc, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Iristel Inc, Aliant Telecom (NS), Bragg Communications Inc and TELUS Integrated Communications. 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

Digby’s dated assignments run from 2001 to 2024. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 4 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 3 prefixes (23%) 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.

Digby’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom (NS) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless): these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bragg Communications Inc. in 2001. The most recent arrivals are Iristel Inc. (2016), TELUS Integrated Communications (2015) and Fido Solutions Inc. (2014), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Digby.

Digby has only 13 prefixes, or 130,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Digby: the leader, Iristel Inc., holds only 30.8% of the prefixes against 7 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Allocation is mature: only 10.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 3 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Digby numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

3 undated in the register.

Dialling a Digby number

Digby is served by 2 overlaid area codes (902 and 782). A 782 number is no more “out of town” than a 902 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Digby shares area codes 902 and 782 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Halifax, Charlottetown, Sydney, Truro, Amherst, New Glasgow, Kentville and Summerside. The largest of them, Halifax, holds 220 prefixes in 782 and 902; the smallest on the list, Port Hawkesbury, has just 12.

What a Digby number tells you

A number attached to Digby tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Nova Scotia, most often Iristel Inc.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 8 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 Nova Scotia area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Digby: code 782-820 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 782-820-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Digby, Nova Scotia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Digby prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 13 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Nova Scotia