Manitoba province in Canada has been assigned the area code 204 and its overlay code 431 in the NANP (North American Numbering Plan). Even if you are not the one who is staying in the province, there is a chance you need to connect with someone who lives there. You might own a virtual travel agency or a calling center or any other this sort of call lead business and there is a good chance you are calling someone in Manitoba. To effectively run your business, you would need the business area code 204 telephone number.
It was part of the very initial North American area codes that were assigned in the year 1947. There were around 86 original area codes and 204 was one of them. It has been in use since then. However, the Canadian numbering administrator made a forecast in the year 2009 that all the numbers in area code 204 will get exhausted in the next few years. This forecast was made although the population of the province at that time was only about 1.2 million. The total count of telephone numbers that were provided by an area code was about 7.8 million.
The scheme used in Canada for the allocation of numbers says that all ten thousand numbers available in a central office prefix would be allotted to competitive local exchange carriers be it the smallest of hamlets as well. The number pooling system is not implemented there in Canada. It means that when a number is assigned to a rate center, one cannot re-assign it to any other place even if there are sufficient numbers available to service the rate center. The proliferation of mobile phones, especially around Winnipeg caused the number of exhaustion.
Keeping in view the above-mentioned scenario, CRTC (Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunication Commission) provisioned an overlay area code 431 for the whole province and finally implemented the same in November 2012. This was also the year when in July, authorities mandated the 10-digit dialing system in the Manitoba province. Because of this system, they got the problem in hand to allocate approximately 15.6 million telephone numbers to a mere population of about 1.2 million.
Carriers in the province came up with a solution to this and adopted a geographical split model. It allowed one half of the province to continue with the old area code 204 and the other half received the freshly introduced 431 area code. The motive behind this model was that the telephone carriers did not want to overburden the people staying in rural areas to bear the expense of changing telephone numbers and going through a whole lot of other logistical issues.
The province has also been allotted a reserved area code 584 in the year 2007. Authorities have decided the launch date for this area code as 29th October 2022. All these area codes have been serving the province of Manitoba – both for businesses and residents alike. Currently, Bell MTS serves as the ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) for the area code 204.
Some key facts about area code 204
Area: It primarily serves the entire province of Manitoba in Canada.
Major Cities: Winnipeg (MB), Elie (MB), Birtle (MB), Oxford House (MB), Wanless (MB), Melita (MB), Brandon (MB), Steinbach (MB), Dauphin (MB), Flin Flon (MB), Portage la Prairie (MB), Selkirk (MB), Thompson (MB), Winkler (MB), etc.
Canada’s Dialing Code: +1 is the dialing code of Canada.
Time-zone: This area code is located in the Central time zone also known as America/Chicago time zone. It follows CST (Central Standard Time) and from mid-march to early November, it follows CDT (Central Daylight Time) when daylight saving time is observed. Standard Time is GMT – 6.00 hours & Daylight saving time is +1:00 hour
Introduction date: It came into existence on the 1st January 1947.
Nearby Area Codes: 218 for Duluth (MN), 701 for North Dakota, 306 & 639 for Saskatchewan, 867 for Northern Canada, 807 for Kenora (ON) & 907 for Alaska,
Landline v/s Wireless Ratio: Landline holds a slightly major share of 79% whereas 21% share is with the wireless.
Assigned v/s Non-Assigned Ratio: There are only 7% are available to be assigned and 93% are already assigned.