Phone prefixes in Petitcodiac, NB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

10

Telephone numbers covered

100,000

Carriers

6

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

June 23, 2005

Most recent assignment

June 8, 2023

Petitcodiac’s share of its area codes

Within area code 506, Petitcodiac accounts for only 9 of 677 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by Moncton and spread over 88 rate centres. Within area code 428, Petitcodiac accounts for only 1 of 21 prefixes (4.8%): the code is dominated by Bathurst and spread over 15 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Aliant Telecom(NB) holds the largest share at 3 prefixes, 30.0% of the total, ahead of 5 other carriers. Code by code: in 506, Aliant Telecom(NB) leads with 3 of 9 prefixes ahead of 5 others; Iristel Inc. is the only holder in 428. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Petitcodiac’s 2 area codes, while 5 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

1 of Petitcodiac’s 10 prefixes (10.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility Aliant. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Aliant Telecom(NB), Iristel Inc, Distributel and Rogers Communications Canada 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

Petitcodiac’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2023. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 3 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 2 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 3 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Petitcodiac’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom(NB): this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Aliant Telecom(NB) in 2005. The most recent arrivals are Distributel (2022), Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (2019) and Iristel Inc. (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Petitcodiac.

Petitcodiac has only 10 prefixes, or 100,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Petitcodiac: the leader, Aliant Telecom(NB), holds only 30.0% 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.

Demand remains steady: 37.5% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2005–2009. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Petitcodiac number

Petitcodiac is served by 2 overlaid area codes (506 and 428). A 428 number is no more “out of town” than a 506 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Petitcodiac shares area codes 506 and 428 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Miramichi, Bathurst, Edmundston, Campbellton and Woodstock. The largest of them, Moncton, holds 81 prefixes in 428 and 506; the smallest on the list, Sackville, has just 10.

What a Petitcodiac number tells you

A number attached to Petitcodiac tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in New Brunswick, most often Aliant Telecom(NB). 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 New Brunswick area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Petitcodiac: code 506-534 is recorded for Aliant Telecom(NB), so every 506-534-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Petitcodiac, New Brunswick” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Petitcodiac prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 10 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in New Brunswick