Phone prefixes in Leeds, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 31, 2012

Most recent assignment

October 19, 2021

Leeds’s share of its area codes

Within area code 581, Leeds accounts for only 5 of 778 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 232 rate centres. Within area code 418, Leeds accounts for only 1 of 777 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Quebec and spread over 258 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Videotron Ltd. holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 581, Videotron Ltd. leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others; Bell Canada is the only holder in 418. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Leeds’s 2 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

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

How the allocation was built up

Leeds’s dated assignments run from 2012 to 2021. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 2 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.

Leeds’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 2012. The most recent arrivals are IVIC Telecom s.e.n.c (2021), Videotron Ltd. (2017) and Telecommunications Xittel Inc (2012), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Leeds.

Leeds 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 Leeds: the leader, Videotron Ltd., holds only 33.3% of the prefixes against 4 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 2010–2014. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Leeds number

Leeds is served by 2 overlaid area codes (581 and 418). A 418 number is no more “out of town” than a 581 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Leeds shares area codes 581 and 418 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Quebec, Chicoutimi, Rimouski, Alma, Riviere-du-Loup, Thetford Mines, Levis and Saint-Georges-de-Beauce. The largest of them, Quebec, holds 245 prefixes in 418 and 581; the smallest on the list, Chibougamau, has just 11.

What a Leeds number tells you

A number attached to Leeds tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often Videotron Ltd.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 5 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 Leeds: code 581-768 is recorded for Videotron Ltd., so every 581-768-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Leeds, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Leeds prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Quebec