Phone prefixes in St. John's, NL

In numbers

In-service prefixes

101

Telephone numbers covered

1,010,000

Carriers

13

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

November 4, 1999

Most recent assignment

December 16, 2025

St. John's’s share of its area codes

Within area code 709, St. John's takes 100 of 630 prefixes (15.9%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 209 rate centres, the largest of them St. John's. Within area code 879, St. John's takes 1 of 3 prefixes (33.3%), a substantial slice of a code shared by 2 rate centres, the largest of them Corner Brook.

Who holds these numbers

Aliant Telecom (NF) holds the largest share at 36 prefixes, 35.6% of the total, ahead of 12 other carriers. Code by code: in 709, Aliant Telecom (NF) leads with 36 of 100 prefixes ahead of 12 others; Bell Mobility Aliant is the only holder in 879. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of St. John's’s 2 area codes, while 12 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

40 of St. John's’s 101 prefixes (39.6%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility Aliant, TELUS Mobility, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Aliant Telecom (NF), Iristel Inc, Bragg Communications Inc and TELUS Integrated Communications. 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

St. John's’s dated assignments run from 1999 to 2025. The busiest period was 2010–2014, when 22 prefixes went to 8 carriers. 34 prefixes (34%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 15 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

St. John's’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom (NF), Bell Mobility Aliant and Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless): 4 carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Aliant Telecom (NF) in 1999. The most recent arrivals are Distributel (2022), Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (2019) and Comwave Networks (2014), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in St. John's.

Its 101 prefixes stand for 1,010,000 possible numbers: St. John's is a large rate centre, the kind that hosts several switching offices and a sizeable business clientele.

No single carrier dominates St. John's: the leader, Aliant Telecom (NF), holds only 35.6% of the prefixes against 12 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: 22.4% of the dated prefixes go back to the last ten years, the most active period being 2010–2014. 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 St. John's (Bell Mobility Aliant): numbers that will start showing up on call displays in the coming months.

34 undated in the register.

Dialling a St. John's number

St. John's is served by 2 overlaid area codes (709 and 879). A 879 number is no more “out of town” than a 709 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

St. John's shares area codes 709 and 879 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Corner Brook, Clarenville, Carbonear, Gander, Marystown, Bay Roberts, Labrador City - Wabush and Deer Lake. The largest of them, Corner Brook, holds 23 prefixes in 709 and 879; the smallest on the list, Grand Bank, has just 5.

What a St. John's number tells you

A number attached to St. John's tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Newfoundland and Labrador, most often Aliant Telecom (NF). It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 13 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 Newfoundland and Labrador area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for St. John's: code 709-273 is recorded for Aliant Telecom (NF), so every 709-273-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every St. John's prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 101 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Newfoundland and Labrador