Phone prefixes in Wemindji, QC

In numbers

In-service prefixes

4

Telephone numbers covered

40,000

Carriers

4

Area codes

2

Provinces and territories

1

First assignment

April 26, 2016

Most recent assignment

July 19, 2021

Wemindji’s share of its area codes

Within area code 873, Wemindji accounts for only 3 of 667 prefixes (0.4%): the code is dominated by Sherbrooke and spread over 162 rate centres. Within area code 819, Wemindji accounts for only 1 of 770 prefixes (0.1%): the code is dominated by Ottawa-Hull and spread over 211 rate centres.

Who holds these numbers

Bell Mobility holds the largest share at 1 prefixes, 25.0% of the total, ahead of 3 other carriers. Code by code: in 873, Bell Mobility leads with 1 of 3 prefixes ahead of 2 others; Telebec Ltee. is the only holder in 819. No carrier holds prefixes in every one of Wemindji’s 2 area codes, while 4 appear in just one.

Wireless and wireline

1 of Wemindji’s 4 prefixes (25.0%) are held by carriers whose registered name marks a wireless business: Bell Mobility. Wireline prefixes still outnumber them, carried by Distributel, SSi Micro Ltd and Telebec Ltee. 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

Wemindji’s dated assignments run from 2016 to 2021. The busiest period was 2015–2019, when 2 prefixes went to 2 carriers. 1 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 1 prefixes have been added, so the rate centre is still growing.

Wemindji’s oldest prefixes, the ones the register leaves undated, belong to Telebec Ltee: this carrier made up the landscape before competition arrived. The first dated assignment went to Bell Mobility in 2016. The most recent arrivals are SSi Micro Ltd. (2021), Distributel (2018) and Bell Mobility (2016), a sign that new carriers are still asking for numbers in Wemindji.

Wemindji has just 4 prefixes (40,000 numbers): a very small rate centre, typical of a village or rural area served by a single switching office.

No single carrier dominates Wemindji: the leader, Bell Mobility, holds only 25.0% of the prefixes against 3 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 2015–2019. The rate centre is growing at a regular rather than explosive pace.

1 undated in the register.

Dialling a Wemindji number

Wemindji is served by 2 overlaid area codes (873 and 819). A 819 number is no more “out of town” than a 873 one; from abroad, dial +1 and the full ten digits.

The numbering neighbourhood

Wemindji shares area codes 873 and 819 with at least 20 other rate centres, including Ottawa-Hull, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres, Drummondville, Gatineau, Victoriaville, Val-D'Or and Maniwaki. The largest of them, Ottawa-Hull, holds 119 prefixes in 819 and 873; the smallest on the list, Ville-Marie, has just 12.

What a Wemindji number tells you

A number attached to Wemindji tells you that its prefix was issued to a carrier for this rate centre in Quebec, 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 4 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 Quebec area code is easy to borrow to look local.

Reading a register entry for Wemindji: code 873-588 is recorded for Bell Mobility, so every 873-588-XXXX number (10,000 possible) descends from that assignment. “Wemindji, Quebec” there names a rate centre, not a municipality, and several area codes overlay it.

Every Wemindji prefix

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

Allocated prefixes

All 4 in-service prefixes, grouped by rate centre.

Elsewhere in Quebec