Phone prefixes in Matagami, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

5

Telephone numbers covered

50,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 12, 2014

Most recent assignment

April 7, 2021

Matagami’s share of its area codes

Within area code 873, Matagami 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, Matagami accounts for only 1 of 770 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Mobility holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 40.0% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 873, Bell Mobility leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; Telebec Ltee. is the only holder in 819. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Matagami’s 2 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

3 of Matagami’s 5 prefixes (60.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility and TELUS Mobility. That makes this a mostly mobile rate centre, which is typical of recent allocations: new prefixes go overwhelmingly to cellphones. 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

Matagami’s dated assignments run from 2014 to 2021. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 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 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Matagami’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 2014. The most recent arrivals are SSi Micro Ltd. (2021), TELUS Mobility (2016) and Bell Mobility (2014), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Matagami.

Matagami has just 5 prefixes (50,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

Bell Mobility leads with 40.0% of the prefixes, but 3 competitors have set up in Matagami: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Growth is recent: 50.0% of the dated prefixes were assigned in the last ten years, peaking in 2020–2024. Matagami is among the rate centres where demand for numbers is still rising quickly.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Matagami number

Matagami 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

Matagami 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 Matagami number tells you

A number attached to Matagami tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, most often Bell Mobility. It does not tell you where the handset is today: most of Matagami’s prefixes are mobile, and a cellphone keeps its number when its owner moves across the country. 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 Matagami: code 873-937 is recorded for Bell Mobility, so every 873-937-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Matagami, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Matagami prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 5 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec