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Area code 867
Area code 867 is the telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the three Canadian territories, all of which are in Northern Canada. The area code was created on October 21, 1997, for a new numbering plan area (NPA) established from combining regions that had been served by area code 403 and area code 819. As the least populated NPA in mainland North America, serving about 130,000 people, it is geographically the largest, with Alaska (907) a distant second.
The numbering plan area is adjacent to seven provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Quebec) and one U.S. state (Alaska), as well as Greenland and Russia (across the North Pole), more jurisdictions than any other in North America. It is also one of two Canadian area codes that are not part of an overlay numbering plan, the other being 807.
The incumbent local exchange carrier for area code 867 is Northwestel, a subsidiary of BCE. Until 1964, the geographic area served today by 867 had up to five independent telephone companies, and by Bell Canada.[citation needed]
In 1947, Alberta was assigned area code 403 in the first continent-wide telephone numbering plan by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). When service became available from local regional carriers, individual locations in Yukon and the west of the Northwest Territories were served via the area code of the carrier. These companies were eventually merged into Canadian National Telecommunications, a subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway. CNT's operations in the territories became Northwestel in 1979.
The eastern Northwest Territories were among the last areas of North America without telephone service. When the area code system was created, the region was effectively served by western Quebec's area code 514.[citation needed] In 1957, those non-diallable areas were reassigned to eastern Quebec's area code 418.[citation needed] Bell Canada introduced telephone service in the eastern Northwest Territories in 1958. As direct distance dialing (DDD) was rolled out in this area in the 1970s, the eastern Northwest Territories and a large swath of northwestern Quebec were reassigned to western Quebec's area code 819. Bell Canada sold its northern service territory to Northwestel in 1992. In 1993, Bell Communications Research, functioning as the North American Numbering Plan Administration listed the vast majority of the territories with area code 403.
Until area code 867 was created, area codes 403 and 819 had been geographically the two largest in the North American Numbering Plan. The area code commenced service on October 21, 1997. Since its creation, all of the former 819 portion of the Northwest Territories, as well as the portion of the former 403 portion covering five exchanges, has become part of Nunavut. The split reduced area code 403 for service of Alberta only.
All existing central office prefixes, with one exception, were retained in the change to area code 867. An assignment conflict between 403-979 at Inuvik and 819-979 at Iqaluit was resolved by changing Inuvik from 403-979 to 867-777. A minor programming error allowed for a few weeks late in 1997 callers in the Inuvik area to dial 403-777 and reach Inuvik when they actually should have routed to Calgary, which appeared on customer's bills, along with the higher rate.
Northwestel's proposal for a new regulatory regime was approved for 2007 to allow resale of local telephone service, but no competitors entered the market to avail themselves of the resale option. In 2011, facilities-based local service competition was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and so additional central office codes are now required for competitive carriers wishing to offer local service. The expense limits deployment so far to Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Inuvik, Behchokǫ̀, Aklavik and Hay River, four of which already have multiple prefixes. Communities that now have only one prefix are not likely to need a second prefix other than for local growth or the entry of a competitor (as in Aklavik and the twin Behchokǫ̀ communities, Rae-Edzo).
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Area code 867
Area code 867 is the telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the three Canadian territories, all of which are in Northern Canada. The area code was created on October 21, 1997, for a new numbering plan area (NPA) established from combining regions that had been served by area code 403 and area code 819. As the least populated NPA in mainland North America, serving about 130,000 people, it is geographically the largest, with Alaska (907) a distant second.
The numbering plan area is adjacent to seven provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Quebec) and one U.S. state (Alaska), as well as Greenland and Russia (across the North Pole), more jurisdictions than any other in North America. It is also one of two Canadian area codes that are not part of an overlay numbering plan, the other being 807.
The incumbent local exchange carrier for area code 867 is Northwestel, a subsidiary of BCE. Until 1964, the geographic area served today by 867 had up to five independent telephone companies, and by Bell Canada.[citation needed]
In 1947, Alberta was assigned area code 403 in the first continent-wide telephone numbering plan by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). When service became available from local regional carriers, individual locations in Yukon and the west of the Northwest Territories were served via the area code of the carrier. These companies were eventually merged into Canadian National Telecommunications, a subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway. CNT's operations in the territories became Northwestel in 1979.
The eastern Northwest Territories were among the last areas of North America without telephone service. When the area code system was created, the region was effectively served by western Quebec's area code 514.[citation needed] In 1957, those non-diallable areas were reassigned to eastern Quebec's area code 418.[citation needed] Bell Canada introduced telephone service in the eastern Northwest Territories in 1958. As direct distance dialing (DDD) was rolled out in this area in the 1970s, the eastern Northwest Territories and a large swath of northwestern Quebec were reassigned to western Quebec's area code 819. Bell Canada sold its northern service territory to Northwestel in 1992. In 1993, Bell Communications Research, functioning as the North American Numbering Plan Administration listed the vast majority of the territories with area code 403.
Until area code 867 was created, area codes 403 and 819 had been geographically the two largest in the North American Numbering Plan. The area code commenced service on October 21, 1997. Since its creation, all of the former 819 portion of the Northwest Territories, as well as the portion of the former 403 portion covering five exchanges, has become part of Nunavut. The split reduced area code 403 for service of Alberta only.
All existing central office prefixes, with one exception, were retained in the change to area code 867. An assignment conflict between 403-979 at Inuvik and 819-979 at Iqaluit was resolved by changing Inuvik from 403-979 to 867-777. A minor programming error allowed for a few weeks late in 1997 callers in the Inuvik area to dial 403-777 and reach Inuvik when they actually should have routed to Calgary, which appeared on customer's bills, along with the higher rate.
Northwestel's proposal for a new regulatory regime was approved for 2007 to allow resale of local telephone service, but no competitors entered the market to avail themselves of the resale option. In 2011, facilities-based local service competition was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and so additional central office codes are now required for competitive carriers wishing to offer local service. The expense limits deployment so far to Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Inuvik, Behchokǫ̀, Aklavik and Hay River, four of which already have multiple prefixes. Communities that now have only one prefix are not likely to need a second prefix other than for local growth or the entry of a competitor (as in Aklavik and the twin Behchokǫ̀ communities, Rae-Edzo).