Phone prefixes in Stephenville, NL

In numbers

In-service prefixes

8

Telephone numbers covered

80,000

Carriers

5

Area codes

1

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

May 30, 2005

Most recent assignment

March 16, 2026

Stephenville’s share of its area code

Within area code 709, Stephenville accounts for only 8 of 631 prefixes (1.3%): the code is dominated by St. John's and spread over 209 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Aliant Telecom (NF) holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 4 other carriers. Code by code: in 709, Aliant Telecom (NF) leads with 2 of 8 prefixes ahead of 4 others.

Wireless and wireline

3 of Stephenville’s 8 prefixes (37.5%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility Aliant and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Aliant Telecom (NF), 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

Stephenville’s dated assignments run from 2005 to 2026. The busiest period was 2005–2009, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 2 prefixes (25%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 2 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Stephenville’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom (NF) and Bell Mobility Aliant: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Aliant Telecom (NF) in 2005. The most recent arrivals are TELUS Integrated Communications (2022), TELUS Mobility (2010) and Bragg Communications Inc. (2010), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Stephenville.

Stephenville has just 8 prefixes (80,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Stephenville: the leader, Aliant Telecom (NF), holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 4 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: 33.3% 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 Stephenville number

A single area code, 709, covers Stephenville, and it is not overlaid with any other code on this territory: one of the few parts of Canada where seven-digit local dialling may still work. From abroad, dial +1 709 and the seven-digit number.

The numbering neighbourhood

Stephenville shares area code 709 with at least 20 other rate centres, including St. John's, Corner Brook, Clarenville, Carbonear, Gander, Marystown, Bay Roberts and Labrador City - Wabush. The largest of them, St. John's, holds 100 prefixes in 709; the smallest on the list, Grand Bank, has just 5.

What a Stephenville number tells you

A number attached to Stephenville 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 5 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 Stephenville: code 709-641 is recorded for Aliant Telecom (NF), so every 709-641-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador” there names a rate centre, not a municipality.

Every Stephenville prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 8 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Newfoundland and Labrador