Phone prefixes in Fort Qu'Appelle, SK

In numbers

In-service prefixes

15

Telephone numbers covered

150,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 26, 2010

Most recent assignment

June 30, 2022

Fort Qu'Appelle’s share of its area codes

Within area code 306, Fort Qu'Appelle accounts for only 8 of 777 prefixes (1.0%): the code is dominated by Saskatoon and spread over 228 rate centres. Within area code 639, Fort Qu'Appelle accounts for only 7 of 776 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Regina and spread over 202 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 20.0% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 306, SaskTel leads with 3 of 8 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 639, Distributel leads with 2 of 7 prefixes ahead of 5 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Fort Qu'Appelle’s 2 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

4 of Fort Qu'Appelle’s 15 prefixes (26.7%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: SaskTel Mobility, Bell Mobility and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Iristel Inc, SaskTel, Distributel and Access Communications Co-operative Limited. 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 Qu'Appelle’s dated assignments run from 2010 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 8 prefixes went to 5 carriers. 4 prefixes (27%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Fort Qu'Appelle’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to SaskTel and SaskTel Mobility: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Mobility in 2010. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2022), Fibernetics Corporation (2021) and Access Communications Co-operative Limited (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Fort Qu'Appelle.

Fort Qu'Appelle has only 15 prefixes, or 150,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Fort Qu'Appelle: the leader, Iristel Inc., holds only 20.0% of the prefixes against 8 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 18.2% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 4 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Fort Qu'Appelle numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

4 undated in the register.

Dialling a Fort Qu'Appelle number

Fort Qu'Appelle is served by 2 overlaid area codes (306 and 639). A 639 number is no more “out of town” than a 306 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Fort Qu'Appelle shares area codes 306 and 639 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Yorkton, Swift Current and Moosomin. The largest of them, Regina, holds 157 prefixes in 306 and 639; the smallest on the list, Watrous, has just 12.

What a Fort Qu'Appelle number tells you

A number attached to Fort Qu'Appelle tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Saskatchewan, 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 9 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 Saskatchewan area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Fort Qu'Appelle: code 306-403 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 306-403-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Fort Qu'Appelle prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 15 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Saskatchewan