Phone prefixes in Virden, MB

In numbers

In-service prefixes

13

Telephone numbers covered

130,000

Carriers

11

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

January 29, 2003

Most recent assignment

June 21, 2022

Virden’s share of its area codes

Within area code 204, Virden accounts for only 7 of 781 prefixes (0.9%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 245 rate centres. Within area code 431, Virden accounts for only 6 of 571 prefixes (1.1%): the code is dominated by Winnipeg and spread over 146 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Mobility holds the largest share at 2 prefixes, 15.4% of the total, ahead of 10 other carriers. Code by code: in 204, MTS Inc. leads with 2 of 7 prefixes ahead of 5 others; in 431, Bell Mobility leads with 1 of 6 prefixes ahead of 5 others. 1 carrier holds prefixes in every one of Virden’s 2 area codes, while 10 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

5 of Virden’s 13 prefixes (38.5%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility, Fido Solutions Inc, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) and TELUS Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by MTS Inc, Bell West Inc, LES.NET (1996) Inc and Provincial Tel 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

Virden’s dated assignments run from 2003 to 2022. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 4 prefixes went to 3 carriers. 2 prefixes (15%) 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.

Virden’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 Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Wireless) in 2003. The most recent arrivals are TELUS Integrated Communications (2022), LES.NET (1996) Inc. (2020) and Bell West Inc. (2019), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Virden.

Virden has only 13 prefixes, or 130,000 numbers: a small rate centre, where the arrival of a single new carrier visibly changes the landscape.

No single carrier dominates Virden: the leader, Bell Mobility, holds only 15.4% of the prefixes against 10 competitors, a sign of a highly fragmented market where cable companies, mobility brands and VoIP providers weigh as much as the incumbent.

Allocation is mature: only 18.2% of the dated prefixes are less than ten years old, most having been handed out in 2015–2019, and 2 prefixes go back to the undated monopoly era. New Virden numbers mostly come out of blocks that were assigned long ago.

2 undated in the register.

Dialling a Virden number

Virden is served by 2 overlaid area codes (204 and 431). A 431 number is no more “out of town” than a 204 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Virden shares area codes 204 and 431 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Winnipeg, Brandon, Portage La Prairie, Steinbach, Oakbank, Stonewall, Dauphin and Selkirk. The largest of them, Winnipeg, holds 386 prefixes in 204 and 431; the smallest on the list, Austin, has just 9.

What a Virden number tells you

A number attached to Virden tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Manitoba, most often Bell Mobility. It does not tell you where the handset is today: a subscriber may have ported the number to any of the 11 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 Virden: code 204-908 is recorded for Bell Mobility, so every 204-908-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Virden, Manitoba” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Virden prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 13 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Manitoba