Phone prefixes in Fort Providence, NT

In numbers

In-service prefixes

3

Telephone numbers covered

30,000

Carriers

3

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

December 13, 2012

Most recent assignment

June 22, 2017

Fort Providence’s share of its area code

Within area code 867, Fort Providence accounts for only 3 of 258 prefixes (1.2%): the code is dominated by Yellowknife and spread over 75 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Mobility holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 2 other carriers. Code by code: in 867, Bell Mobility leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others.

Wireless and wireline

1 of Fort Providence’s 3 prefixes (33.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Northwestel and SSi Micro Ltd. 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

Fort Providence’s dated assignments run from 2012 to 2017. The busiest period was 2010–2014, 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. No prefix has been added since 2020: demand for numbers in Fort Providence is flat.

Fort Providence’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Northwestel: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Mobility in 2012. The most recent arrivals are SSi Micro Ltd. (2017) and Bell Mobility (2012), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Fort Providence.

Fort Providence 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.

No single carrier dominates Fort Providence: the leader, Bell Mobility, holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 2 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 0.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2010–2014, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Fort Providence numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Fort Providence number

A single area code, 867, covers Fort Providence, and it is not overlaid with any other code on this territory: one of the few parts of Canada where seven-digit local dialling may still work. From abroad, dial +1 867 and the seven-digit number.

The numbering neighbourhood

Fort Providence shares area code 867 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Yellowknife, Whitehorse, Iqaluit, Inuvik, Behchoko, Tuktoyaktuk, Arviat and Dawson City. The largest of them, Yellowknife, holds 35 prefixes in 867; the smallest on the list, Kimmirut, has just 3.

What a Fort Providence number tells you

A number attached to Fort Providence tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Northwest Territories, 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 3 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 Northwest Territories area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Fort Providence: code 867-373 is recorded for Bell Mobility, so every 867-373-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Fort Providence, Northwest Territories” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Fort Providence prefix

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

Had a call from a Fort Providence number?

No clear pattern in reports on these numbers yet. If a call worried you:

1. Call back on a number you trust

   If a caller says they are your bank, the Canada Revenue Agency, a courier or your phone company, hang up and call the organization on the number from its website or your statement, never the number that called you. Caller ID can be faked.

2. Report the fraud

   Report the call or text to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or at 1-888-495-8501. If you lost money or gave out personal details, tell your bank first, then your local police.

   Report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre ↗

3. Register on the National Do Not Call List

   Registering a landline or mobile on the National DNCL is free. Registered charities, political parties, newspapers and companies you already do business with may still call.

   National Do Not Call List ↗Who can still call you ↗

4. Forward suspicious texts to 7726

   Forward a scam or spam text to 7726 (SPAM on the keypad). It's free, and your carrier uses it to block the sender. Don't tap links or reply.

   Get Cyber Safe: forwarding to 7726 ↗

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Northwest Territories