OTTAWA — Two regions in Ontario will be getting additional area codes this year.
Starting March 26, the new 753 area code will be introduced in the regions currently served by area codes 613 and 343. Located in eastern Ontario, this area includes Ottawa, Bancroft, Belleville, Brockville, Carleton Place, Cornwall, Kingston, Napanee, Pembroke, Perth, Picton, Renfrew and Smiths Falls.
On June 18, the new 683 area code will start to be introduced in the regions currently served by area codes 705 and 249. This northeastern and central Ontario area includes Alliston, Barrie, Bracebridge, Collingwood, Huntsville, Kapuskasing, Kirkland Lake, Lindsay, Midland, North Bay, Orillia, Parry Sound, Peterborough, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Temiskaming Shores and Timmins.
The introduction of these new area codes is “intended to meet the continuously growing demand for new telephone numbers,” reads a press release from the Telecommunications Alliance, an organization that runs communications campaigns on behalf of Canada’s major telecom service providers to inform the public about the introduction of new area codes.
“The introduction of a new area code creates millions of additional telephone numbers without affecting the existing numbers,” explained Kelly T. Walsh, program manager of the Canadian Numbering Administrator, in the press release. “The new area codes will be added where the current area codes are already in use in the affected regions in Ontario.”
Once the new area codes 753 and 683 are introduced, residents and businesses requesting new phone numbers may receive one with the new area code for their region.
Numbers with the new area code will only be assigned when there is no longer a sufficient supply of numbers with the existing area codes, the release says.
Introduction of new area codes does not affect the geographic boundaries for local calling areas in the region or the way long-distance calls are dialled.
Special numbers such as 211, 311, 411, 611 and 911 will not be affected and will still be dialled using only three digits.
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