Phone prefixes in Milk River, AB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

6

Telephone numbers covered

60,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 12, 2007

Most recent assignment

April 18, 2016

Milk River’s share of its area codes

Within area code 403, Milk River accounts for only 4 of 781 prefixes (0.5%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 142 rate centres. Within area code 587, Milk River accounts for only 1 of 779 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 137 rate centres. Within area code 825, Milk River accounts for only 1 of 769 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Calgary and spread over 301 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Distributel holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 33.3% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 403, TELUS Mobility leads with 2 of 4 prefixes ahead of 2 others; Distributel is the only holder in 587; Distributel is the only holder in 825. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Milk River’s 3 area codes, while 3 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

3 of Milk River’s 6 prefixes (50.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility and Bell Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Distributel and TELUS. 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

Milk River’s dated assignments run from 2007 to 2016. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 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. No prefix has been added since 2020: demand for numbers in Milk River is flat.

Milk River’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to TELUS: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Mobility in 2007. The most recent arrivals are Distributel (2014), TELUS Mobility (2007) and Bell Mobility (2007), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Milk River.

Milk River 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 Milk River: the leader, Distributel, 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 2005–2009, and 1 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Milk River numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Milk River number

Milk River is served by 3 overlaid area codes (403, 587 and 825). A 825 number is no more “out of town” than a 403 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Milk River shares area codes 403, 587 and 825 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort McMurray, High River and Banff. The largest of them, Calgary, holds 711 prefixes in 403, 587 and 825; the smallest on the list, Stettler, has just 15.

What a Milk River number tells you

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

Reading a register entry for Milk River: code 587-762 is recorded for Distributel, so every 587-762-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Milk River, Alberta” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Milk River prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

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

Elsewhere in Alberta