GATINEAU — The CRTC announced today it has approved the implementation plans for new area codes to be introduced in southern Ontario and New Brunswick, with some further revisions to the implementation schedule in the case of New Brunswick.
In southern Ontario, the regions surrounding Toronto which are currently served by area codes 289, 365 and 905 will be overlaid with the new area code 742, effective October 16, 2021. The Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA) has advised the Commission the projected exhaust date for the current 289/365/905 area codes is December 22, 2022.
In New Brunswick, the province’s 506 area code is to be overlaid with the new area code 428, effective April 29, 2023. Earlier this year, the Commission had set the implementation date as April 23, 2022. However, due to the CNA’s projected exhaust date for the 506 area code having been revised to December 2023, which took into account revised forecasts from some carriers, a later implementation date of April 29, 2023 has been approved by the Commission.
Having a single area code for the province, New Brunswick still has 7-digit dialling. As such, the implementation of the new distributed overlay area code 428 will require a transition from 7- to 10-digit local dialling.
The Commission has revised the dates associated with the transition to 10-digit local dialling in New Brunswick as follows:
- carriers must complete all network modifications necessary for 10-digit local dialling by October 27, 2022;
- the transition to 10-digit local dialling will be phased in from January 20 to 27, 2023, with a network announcement that intercepts calls dialled with 7 digits and informs callers of the requirement to dial 10 digits, and then completes the call;
- mandatory 10-digit local dialling will be phased in from April 15 to 22, 2023, with a network announcement that intercepts calls dialled with 7 digits and tells the caller to re-dial using 10 digits;
- the new area code 428 will be implemented on April 29, 2023; and
- a network announcement that intercepts calls dialled with 7 digits and informs the caller that the call cannot be completed as dialled will be phased in from July 29 to August 28, 2023.
