Phone prefixes in Francis, SK

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

September 17, 2014

Most recent assignment

April 4, 2023

Francis’s share of its area codes

Within area code 639, Francis accounts for only 4 of 776 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Regina and spread over 202 rate centres. Within area code 306, Francis accounts for only 1 of 777 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Saskatoon and spread over 228 rate centres. Within area code 474, Francis accounts for only 1 of 88 prefixes (1.1%): the code is dominated by Saskatoon and spread over 70 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Distributel holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 639, Distributel leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; SaskTel is the only holder in 306; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 474. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Francis’s 3 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

1 of Francis’s 6 prefixes (16.7%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: SaskTel Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Distributel, SaskTel and Fibernetics Corporation. 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

Francis’s dated assignments run from 2014 to 2023. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 3 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 prefixes (17%) 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.

Francis’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to SaskTel: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to SaskTel in 2014. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2023), SaskTel Mobility (2017) and Distributel (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Francis.

Francis has just 6 prefixes (60,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Francis: the leader, Distributel, holds only 33.3% 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: 20.0% 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 Francis number

Francis is served by 3 overlaid area codes (639, 306 and 474). A 474 number is no more “out of town” than a 639 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Francis shares area codes 639, 306 and 474 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 161 prefixes in 306, 474 and 639; the smallest on the list, Watrous, has just 14.

What a Francis number tells you

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

Reading a register entry for Francis: code 639-621 is recorded for Distributel, so every 639-621-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Francis, Saskatchewan” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Francis prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 6 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Saskatchewan