Phone prefixes in Lloydminster

In numbers

In-service prefixes

32

Telephone numbers covered

320,000

Carriers

12

Area codes

5

Provinces and territories

2

First assignment

March 10, 2000

Most recent assignment

October 24, 2024

Provinces and territories

This name is used for separate rate centres in 2 provinces. The prefixes below share a name in the CNAC register but belong to different communities.

• Alberta — 21 prefixes
• Saskatchewan — 11 prefixes

Lloydminster’s share of its area codes

Within area code 780, Lloydminster accounts for only 11 of 780 prefixes (1.4%): the code is dominated by Edmonton and spread over 195 rate centres. Within area code 587, Lloydminster accounts for only 7 of 779 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 306, Lloydminster accounts for only 6 of 777 prefixes (0.8%): the code is dominated by Saskatoon and spread over 228 rate centres. Within area code 639, Lloydminster accounts for only 5 of 776 prefixes (0.6%): the code is dominated by Regina and spread over 202 rate centres. Within area code 825, Lloydminster accounts for only 3 of 769 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

TELUS holds the largest share at 8 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 11 other carriers. Code by code: in 780, TELUS leads with 6 of 11 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 587, TELUS leads with 1 of 7 prefixes ahead of 6 others; in 306, TELUS Mobility leads with 2 of 6 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 639, SaskTel Mobility leads with 2 of 5 prefixes ahead of 3 others; in 825, Iristel Inc. leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Lloydminster’s 5 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

14 of Lloydminster’s 32 prefixes (43.8%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, SaskTel Mobility, Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by TELUS, Iristel Inc, SaskTel and Bell West 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

Lloydminster’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2024. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 8 prefixes went to 6 carriers. 6 prefixes (19%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 4 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Lloydminster’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS, SaskTel and SaskTel Mobility: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) in 2000. The most recent arrivals are SaskTel (2020), TELUS Integrated Communications (2019) and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Cable) (2017), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Lloydminster.

Lloydminster’s 32 prefixes provide 320,000 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 Lloydminster: the leader, TELUS, holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 11 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 15.4% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 6 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Lloydminster numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

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

6 undated in the register.

Dialling a Lloydminster number

Lloydminster is served by 5 overlaid area codes (780, 587, 306, 639 and 825). A 825 number is no more “out of town” than a 780 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Lloydminster shares area codes 780, 587, 306, 639 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Fort McMurray, Moose Jaw, Grande Prairie and Red Deer. The largest of them, Edmonton, holds 489 prefixes in 587, 780 and 825; the smallest on the list, Drayton Valley, has just 18.

What a Lloydminster number tells you

A number attached to Lloydminster tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Alberta, most often TELUS. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 12 carriers present here or to a VoIP service usable anywhere. Nor does it tell you who is calling: caller ID can be spoofed, and an Alberta area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Lloydminster: code 780-808 is recorded for TELUS, so every 780-808-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Lloydminster, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Lloydminster prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 32 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Alberta