Phone prefixes in La Tuque, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

9

Telephone numbers covered

90,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 1, 2006

Most recent assignment

March 28, 2025

La Tuque’s share of its area codes

Within area code 819, La Tuque accounts for only 5 of 770 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres. Within area code 873, La Tuque accounts for only 4 of 667 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Telebec Ltee. holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 819, Telebec Ltee. leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 873, TELUS Quebec leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of La Tuque’s 2 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

2 of La Tuque’s 9 prefixes (22.2%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Telebec Ltee, TELUS Quebec, 9164-3122 Quebec inc and Videotron 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

La Tuque’s dated assignments run from 2006 to 2025. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 2 prefixes (22%) 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.

La Tuque’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Telebec Ltee: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Mobility in 2006. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2025), Telebec Ltee. (2018) and 9164-3122 Quebec inc (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in La Tuque.

La Tuque has just 9 prefixes (90,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates La Tuque: the leader, Telebec Ltee., holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 5 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 14.3% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2005–2009, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New La Tuque numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a La Tuque number

La Tuque is served by 2 overlaid area codes (819 and 873). A 873 number is no more “out of town” than a 819 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

La Tuque shares area codes 819 and 873 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Ottawa-Hull, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres, Drummondville, Gatineau, Victoriaville, Val-D'Or and Maniwaki. The largest of them, Ottawa-Hull, holds 119 prefixes in 819 and 873; the smallest on the list, Ville-Marie, has just 12.

What a La Tuque number tells you

A number attached to La Tuque tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often Telebec Ltee.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 6 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 Quebec area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for La Tuque: code 819-523 is recorded for Telebec Ltee., so every 819-523-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “La Tuque, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every La Tuque prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 9 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec