Phone prefixes in Kelowna, BC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

76

Telephone numbers covered

760,000

Carriers

13

Area codes

4

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 4, 2000

Most recent assignment

August 16, 2024

Kelowna’s share of its area codes

Within area code 250, Kelowna accounts for only 32 of 781 prefixes (4.1%): the code is dominated by Victoria and spread over 268 rate centres. Within area code 778, Kelowna accounts for only 19 of 779 prefixes (2.4%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 159 rate centres. Within area code 236, Kelowna accounts for only 18 of 730 prefixes (2.5%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 269 rate centres. Within area code 672, Kelowna accounts for only 7 of 320 prefixes (2.2%): the code is dominated by Vancouver and spread over 108 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS Mobility holds the largest share at 20 prefixes, 26.3% of the total, ahead of 12 other carriers. Code by code: in 250, TELUS leads with 15 of 32 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 778, TELUS Mobility leads with 4 of 19 prefixes ahead of 9 others; in 236, Iristel Inc. leads with 5 of 18 prefixes ahead of 8 others; in 672, TELUS Mobility leads with 4 of 7 prefixes ahead of 3 others. 2 carriers hold prefixes in every one of Kelowna’s 4 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

35 of Kelowna’s 76 prefixes (46.1%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), Bell Mobility and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Iristel Inc, Bell West Inc and Shaw Telecom Inc. 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

Kelowna’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2024. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 16 prefixes went to 8 carriers. 15 prefixes (20%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 11 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Kelowna’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS, TELUS Mobility and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless): these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Mobility in 2000. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2018), Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2017) and Comwave Networks (2014), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Kelowna.

Kelowna’s 76 prefixes provide 760,000 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 Kelowna: the leader, TELUS Mobility, holds only 26.3% of the prefixes against 12 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 18.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 15 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Kelowna numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

The register also shows 1 prefix assigned but not yet in service in Kelowna (Fibernetics Corporation): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

15 undated in the register.

Dialling a Kelowna number

Kelowna is served by 4 overlaid area codes (250, 778, 236 and 672). A 672 number is no more “out of town” than a 250 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Kelowna shares area codes 250, 778, 236 and 672 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Vancouver, Victoria, New Westminster, Abbotsford, Nanaimo, South Kamloops, Prince George and Cranbrook. The largest of them, Vancouver, holds 397 prefixes in 236, 672 and 778; the smallest on the list, Salmon Arm, has just 21.

What a Kelowna number tells you

A number attached to Kelowna tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in British Columbia, most often TELUS Mobility. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 13 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 British Columbia area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Kelowna: code 250-212 is recorded for TELUS Mobility, so every 250-212-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Kelowna, British Columbia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Kelowna prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 76 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in British Columbia