Phone prefixes in Portage La Prairie, MB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

33

Telephone numbers covered

330,000

Carriers

16

Area codes

3

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

February 2, 2000

Most recent assignment

October 17, 2024

Portage La Prairie’s share of its area codes

Within area code 204, Portage La Prairie accounts for only 17 of 781 prefixes (2.2%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 245 rate centres. Within area code 431, Portage La Prairie accounts for only 15 of 572 prefixes (2.6%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 146 rate centres. Within area code 584, Portage La Prairie accounts for only 1 of 15 prefixes (6.7%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 13 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Iristel Inc. holds the largest share at 7 prefixes, 21.2% of the total, ahead of 15 other carriers. Code by code: in 204, MTS Inc. leads with 6 of 17 prefixes ahead of 10 others; in 431, Iristel Inc. leads with 6 of 15 prefixes ahead of 5 others; IXICA Communications Inc. is the only holder in 584. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Portage La Prairie’s 3 area codes, while 14 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

8 of Portage La Prairie’s 33 prefixes (24.2%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless), Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Iristel Inc, MTS Inc, Fibernetics Corporation and Shaw Telecom 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

Portage La Prairie’s dated assignments run from 2000 to 2024. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 10 prefixes went to 5 carriers. 4 prefixes (12%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 10 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Portage La Prairie’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to MTS Inc: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to MTS Inc. in 2000. The most recent arrivals are IXICA Communications Inc. (2023), ISP Telecom Inc. (2022) and Fibernetics Corporation (2018), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Portage La Prairie.

Portage La Prairie’s 33 prefixes provide 330,000 numbers, which corresponds to a mid-sized city or a well-established suburb that every major carrier wants a slice of.

No single carrier dominates Portage La Prairie: the leader, Iristel Inc., holds only 21.2% of the prefixes against 15 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: 34.5% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2020–2024. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

The register also shows 1 prefix assigned but not yet in service in Portage La Prairie (Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless)): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

4 undated in the register.

Dialling a Portage La Prairie number

Portage La Prairie is served by 3 overlaid area codes (204, 431 and 584). A 584 number is no more “out of town” than a 204 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Portage La Prairie shares area codes 204, 431 and 584 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Winnipeg, Brandon, Steinbach, Oakbank, Stonewall, Dauphin, Selkirk and Thompson. The largest of them, Winnipeg, holds 390 prefixes in 204, 431 and 584; the smallest on the list, Austin, has just 9.

What a Portage La Prairie number tells you

A number attached to Portage La Prairie tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Manitoba, most often Iristel Inc.. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 16 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 Manitoba area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Portage La Prairie: code 204-400 is recorded for Iristel Inc., so every 204-400-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Portage La Prairie, Manitoba” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Portage La Prairie prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 33 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Manitoba