OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Ten-digit dialing will come to the 418 area code on in 13 months, the CRTC announced today.
The transition to 10-digit dialing will be gradually implemented beginning on June 21, 2008, and become mandatory by September 12, 2008.
Also, effective September 19, 2008, a new area code will be introduced in the region currently served by area code 418. Customers seeking new numbers in this area code could be given a number starting with area code 581.
"These measures are being taken to prevent the exhaustion of telephone numbers in the area code 418 region. The Canadian Numbering Administration forecasts that this region will run out of telephone numbers by October 2008," says the CRTC release.
According to The Telecommunications Alliance, a group of Québec’s major telecommunications companies (Bell, Telus, Vidéotron, Rogers, Télébec, Sogetel, Fido, Allstream and others), this geographic area has a population of 1.2 million and includes: Québec City, Chicoutimi, Baie-Comeau, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Sept-Iles, Schefferville, Chibougamau, St-Georges and Thetford Mines.
The alliance is encouraging residents and businesses to change their speed-dials now, especially when it comes to things like an alarm system.
