Phone prefixes in Moose Jaw, SK

In numbers

In-service prefixes

52

Telephone numbers covered

520,000

Carriers

9

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 19, 1999

Most recent assignment

December 16, 2021

Moose Jaw’s share of its area codes

Within area code 639, Moose Jaw accounts for only 32 of 776 prefixes (4.1%): the code is dominated by Regina and spread over 202 rate centres. Within area code 306, Moose Jaw accounts for only 20 of 777 prefixes (2.6%): the code is dominated by Saskatoon and spread over 228 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) holds the largest share at 30 prefixes, 57.7% of the total, ahead of 8 other carriers. Code by code: in 639, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 28 of 32 prefixes ahead of 4 others; in 306, SaskTel leads with 7 of 20 prefixes ahead of 6 others. 3 carriers hold prefixes in every one of Moose Jaw’s 2 area codes, while 6 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

39 of Moose Jaw’s 52 prefixes (75.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), SaskTel Mobility, Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc 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

Moose Jaw’s dated assignments run from 1999 to 2021. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 20 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 7 prefixes (13%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 13 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Moose Jaw’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to 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 1999. The most recent arrivals are Bell West Inc. (2016), Bell Mobility (2016) and TELUS Integrated Communications (2014), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Moose Jaw.

Moose Jaw’s 52 prefixes provide 520,000 numbers, which corresponds to a mid-sized city or a well-established suburb that every major carrier wants a slice of.

Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) leads with 57.7% of the prefixes, but 8 competitors have set up in Moose Jaw: a market where the incumbent keeps the edge without exclusivity.

Demand remains steady: 28.9% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2015–2019. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

7 undated in the register.

Dialling a Moose Jaw number

Moose Jaw is served by 2 overlaid area codes (639 and 306). A 306 number is no more “out of town” than a 639 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Moose Jaw shares area codes 639 and 306 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Yorkton, Swift Current, Moosomin and Outlook. The largest of them, Regina, holds 157 prefixes in 306 and 639; the smallest on the list, Watrous, has just 12.

What a Moose Jaw number tells you

A number attached to Moose Jaw tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Saskatchewan, most often Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless). It does not tell you where the handset is today: most of Moose Jaw’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 Saskatchewan area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Moose Jaw: code 639-308 is recorded for Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), so every 639-308-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Moose Jaw prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 52 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Saskatchewan