Phone prefixes in Milestone, SK

In numbers

In-service prefixes

8

Telephone numbers covered

80,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 23, 2014

Most recent assignment

December 5, 2022

Milestone’s share of its area codes

Within area code 639, Milestone accounts for only 4 of 776 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Regina and spread over 202 rate centres. Within area code 306, Milestone accounts for only 3 of 777 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Saskatoon and spread over 228 rate centres. Within area code 474, Milestone accounts for only 1 of 88 prefixes (1.1%): the code is dominated by Saskatoon and spread over 70 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Distributel holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 639, Distributel leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; in 306, SaskTel leads with 2 of 3 prefixes ahead of 1 others; Fibernetics Corporation is the only holder in 474. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Milestone’s 3 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

2 of Milestone’s 8 prefixes (25.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility and SaskTel Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Distributel, SaskTel, Access Communications Co-operative Limited and Fibernetics Corporation. 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

Milestone’s dated assignments run from 2014 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 3 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 2 prefixes (25%) 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.

Milestone’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to SaskTel: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Access Communications Co-operative Limited in 2014. The most recent arrivals are Fibernetics Corporation (2022), Distributel (2016) and Bell Mobility (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Milestone.

Milestone has just 8 prefixes (80,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Milestone: the leader, Distributel, holds only 25.0% 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 16.7% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Milestone numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Milestone number

Milestone is served by 3 overlaid area codes (639, 306 and 474). A 474 number is no more “out of town” than a 639 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Milestone shares area codes 639, 306 and 474 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Yorkton, Swift Current and Moosomin. The largest of them, Regina, holds 161 prefixes in 306, 474 and 639; the smallest on the list, Watrous, has just 14.

What a Milestone number tells you

A number attached to Milestone tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Saskatchewan, most often Distributel. 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 Saskatchewan area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Milestone: code 639-634 is recorded for Distributel, so every 639-634-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Milestone, Saskatchewan” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Milestone prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 8 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Saskatchewan