Phone prefixes in Truro, NS

In numbers

In-service prefixes

30

Telephone numbers covered

300,000

Carriers

12

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

August 10, 1999

Most recent assignment

January 13, 2023

Truro’s share of its area codes

Within area code 902, Truro accounts for only 20 of 782 prefixes (2.6%): the code is dominated by Halifax and spread over 175 rate centres. Within area code 782, Truro accounts for only 10 of 456 prefixes (2.2%): the code is dominated by Halifax and spread over 142 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Aliant Telecom (NS) holds the largest share at 6 prefixes, 20.0% of the total, ahead of 11 other carriers. Code by code: in 902, Aliant Telecom (NS) leads with 6 of 20 prefixes ahead of 9 others; in 782, TELUS Mobility leads with 4 of 10 prefixes ahead of 5 others. 4 carriers hold prefixes in every one of Truro’s 2 area codes, while 8 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

13 of Truro’s 30 prefixes (43.3%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: TELUS Mobility, Bell Mobility Aliant, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and Fido Solutions Inc. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Aliant Telecom (NS), Bragg Communications Inc, Fibernetics Corporation and IXICA Communications 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

Truro’s dated assignments run from 1999 to 2023. The busiest period was 2020–2024, when 11 prefixes went to 6 carriers. 7 prefixes (23%) carry no date in the register: these are the historic pre-1999 assignments, the wireline bedrock of the rate centre. Since 2020 another 11 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Truro’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Aliant Telecom (NS) and Bell Mobility Aliant: these carriers made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bragg Communications Inc. in 1999. The most recent arrivals are ISP Telecom Inc. (2021), IXICA Communications Inc. (2020) and Fibernetics Corporation (2020), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Truro.

Truro’s 30 prefixes provide 300,000 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 Truro: the leader, Aliant Telecom (NS), holds only 20.0% of the prefixes against 11 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: 47.8% 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.

7 undated in the register.

Dialling a Truro number

Truro is served by 2 overlaid area codes (902 and 782). A 782 number is no more “out of town” than a 902 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Truro shares area codes 902 and 782 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Halifax, Charlottetown, Sydney, Amherst, New Glasgow, Kentville, Summerside and Windsor. The largest of them, Halifax, holds 220 prefixes in 782 and 902; the smallest on the list, Port Hawkesbury, has just 12.

What a Truro number tells you

A number attached to Truro tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Nova Scotia, most often Aliant Telecom (NS). It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 12 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 Nova Scotia area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Truro: code 902-893 is recorded for Aliant Telecom (NS), so every 902-893-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Truro, Nova Scotia” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Truro prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 30 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Nova Scotia