Phone prefixes in Labelle, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 13, 2010

Most recent assignment

March 14, 2018

Labelle’s share of its area codes

Within area code 873, Labelle accounts for only 4 of 667 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres. Within area code 819, Labelle accounts for only 2 of 770 prefixes (0.3%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

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

Wireless and wireline

None of Labelle’s holders carries a mobility brand in its registered name: all 6 prefixes belong to wireline or wholesale carriers, among them ISP Telecom Inc, TELUS Quebec, Bell Canada and Videotron Ltd. A call showing a Labelle number therefore nominally comes from a landline, cable or VoIP platform rather than a locally assigned cellphone.

How the allocation was built up

Labelle’s dated assignments run from 2010 to 2018. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 1 prefixes (17%) 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 Labelle is flat.

Labelle’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Bell Canada: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to TELUS Quebec in 2010. The most recent arrivals are Videotron Ltd. (2017), ISP Telecom Inc. (2012) and TELUS Quebec (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Labelle.

Labelle 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 Labelle: the leader, ISP Telecom Inc., 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.

Allocation is mature: only 0.0% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Labelle numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Labelle number

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

The numbering neighbourhood

Labelle shares area codes 873 and 819 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 Labelle number tells you

A number attached to Labelle tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often ISP Telecom Inc.. 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 Quebec area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Labelle: code 873-284 is recorded for ISP Telecom Inc., so every 873-284-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Labelle, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Labelle prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Quebec