
Northeastern Ontario gets a new area code today
CBC
Starting today, northeastern Ontario has a new area code.
The Canadian Numbering Administrator, which manages phone numbers for Canada's telecommunications industry, said the region's original area code, 705, has been exhausted.
The 249 area code, which was introduced in 2011, is nearly exhausted as well.
As of today, new phone subscribers could get the 683 area code.
Kelly Walsh, program manager with the Canadian Numbering Administrator, said Canada is part of a North American numbering plan that includes 800 area codes. Canada uses 53 of them.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) sets numbers aside years in advance, and the Canadian Numbering Administrator works with phone companies so they can start using them.
"For example, 683, the new one in that area (northeastern Ontario) was set aside in 2017," Walsh said.
Last year, a CRTC decision set the June 18 date for the new area code to come into effect.
"The 249/705 relief planning committee recommended that the new relief area code be activated by 18 June 2022, which is 10 months before the current projected exhaust date of April 2023," the decision said.
Because more devices use SIM cards today, and have their own phone numbers attached, area codes are exhausted more quickly than they once were, Walsh said.
He said North America is on track to exhaust all possible 10-digit phone numbers by 2056.
"One of the things that they could do would be to expand the amount of numbers that are used in a phone number instead of 10," Walsh said. "It could become a 12-digit phone number."