Calling 584: Manitoba’s new area code goes into service in October By: Chris Kitching Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Mar. 14, 2022

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Manitobans will soon be dialling a new three-digit area code, after a federal review found the province is running out of unassigned phone numbers.

The third code — 584 — is being activated Oct. 29, to provide relief to 204 and 431, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission decided.

Telecom providers can begin handing out numbers starting with 584 that day.

A third code is needed because an explosion of cellphones and devices which use SIM cards has been “eating up phone numbers” in Manitoba, said Toronto-area telecommunications expert Edward Antecol.

The CRTC approved 584 in a decision dated Feb. 24, after the Canadian Numbering Administrator predicted Manitoba will “exhaust” its existing supply of phone numbers by December 2023.

Since that decision, the date has been moved to November 2023.

The CNA, which gives blocks of 10,000 numbers to carriers on behalf of the CRTC, predicts future demand by annually surveying the telecom companies which also fund the corporation.

When the CRTC reserved 584 for Manitoba in February 2017, a committee predicted it wouldn’t be needed until 2027.

However, the 431 code is “filling up,” said CNA program manager Kelly Walsh.

Last year, Manitoba was briefly placed into a “jeopardy condition,” where the pool of unassigned blocks is predicted to run out before a new area code is brought in. The condition was lifted when an exhaust date of October 2023 was revised to December 2023.

The 431 code went into service in November 2012, bringing in the era of mandatory 10-digit dialling for local calls.

It gave relief to the province’s original 204 code, which has been around since 1947 and is maxed out. Existing numbers are reused when customers cancel a landline or cellphone, but all blocks have been assigned.

“As those blocks run out, we have to create a new area code,” said Antecol, a former CNA manager. “If we see it’s going to exhaust within five or six years, we begin watching really closely.”

“As those blocks run out, we have to create a new area code… If we see it’s going to exhaust within five or six years, we begin watching really closely.” – Edward Antecol, a former CNA manager

The CRTC’s approval of 584 came about a year after a committee began planning for a new relief area code due to the dwindling supply of numbers starting with 431.

Walsh and Antecol said consumer demand and new phone companies are two of the main factors.

In some households, every member has at least one phone. When a new provider starts up, it is given blocks of numbers.

“The fact there are so many mobile devices leads to exhaustion faster,” said Walsh.

Another influence is the “internet of things,” or IoT, which refers to all devices with online connectivity.

Anything that uses a SIM card — from tablets and fax machines to modern parking meters and traffic lights — has a unique phone number, said Walsh.

Even vehicles equipped with SIM cards have their own phone numbers, said Antecol, vice-president of professional services and legal counsel for COMSolve, a Toronto-area company contracted to run the Ottawa-based CNA.

Based on the CNA’s latest prediction, Manitoba will need a fourth area code in 2034, he said, although it could be years sooner should demand continue to rise.

All local calls in Manitoba were made using seven digits before the province began using a second area code almost a decade ago.

Manitoba needed more time to prepare for 431 because it introduced 10-digit dialling.

“This new one is a lot easier than the last one. It should be a piece of cake.” – Edward Antecol, a former CNA manager

Telecom equipment and all kinds of systems, including home security alarms and autodialling, had to be upgraded or reprogrammed to accommodate the change. Plus, an awareness campaign was launched to prepare Manitobans for the switch to 10-digit dialling.

None of that will be necessary when 584 is introduced.

“This new one is a lot easier than the last one. It should be a piece of cake,” said Antecol.

Carriers will test the new area code before it goes into service. They can request blocks of numbers starting with 584 about two months before Oct. 29, said Walsh.

Canada takes its new area codes from a pool held by the North American Numbering Plan Administrator. As those codes run out, the CNA asks for more, said Antecol.

The NANP is on pace to run out of area codes in 2056.

“By then, we should have moved on in technology to something different,” said Walsh.

The CRTC has asked a committee to look at ways to delay area code exhaustion, he added.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching