Area code 403 is a telephone

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, re ...

in the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the international calling ...

(NANP) for the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nort ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. The numbering plan area encompasses the southern third of the province, which includes the

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

area. This numbering plan area is also served by area codes 587, 825, and 368, which form a complex overlay for all of Alberta.

History

Area code 403 was one of the original eighty-six area codes assigned by

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

in 1947. Its numbering plan area (NPA) originally comprised the entire province of Alberta, the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

, and the western half of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

. It was the second-largest numbering plan area in the North American Numbering Plan and spanned more than one ninth of the circumference of the planet, from the 49th parallel north to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

. On October 3, 1997, the numbering plan area was reduced to Alberta, and the Canadian territories were split off with the new area code 867. Within only a year, area code 403 was threatened by exhaustion because of the rapid growth of telecommunication services demand for pagers, cellphones, and computer modems, as well as growing competition among providers. On January 25, 1999, the northern two thirds of Alberta, including Edmonton, was split from 403 and assigned the new area code 780. Generally, everything from

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

Lacombe Lacombe may refer to: Places * Lacombe, Alberta, Canada * Lacombe County, Alberta, Canada * Lacombe, Louisiana, United States * Lacombe, Aude, France People * Albert Lacombe (1827–1916), oblate missionary to the Cree and Blackfoot * Bernar ...

, and Ponoka southward stayed in 403. Permissive dialing of 403 continued across the province until May 18, 1999. Within a decade, area code 403 was close to exhaustion once again. The projected exhaust date was March 2009. The solution for mitigation was to implement area code 587 as a province-wide overlay for both numbering plan areas of the state. Optional ten-digit dialing began on June 23, 2008 and became mandatory on September 12, 2008. On September 20, 2008, Telus Mobility began to assign 587 telephone numbers to new customers in Calgary and Edmonton. On April 9, 2016, all three numbering plan areas of the province were overlaid with an additional area code, 825. On January 21, 2022, the province was once again overlaid with another area code, 368.

Local exchange carriers

The incumbent local exchange carrier (LEC) in 403 is Telus. Prior to 1997, the larger 403 included EdTel (Edmonton Telephones, now part of Telus) and Northwestel as incumbent LECs. Prior to 1990, Telus was known as

Alberta Government Telephones Alberta Government Telephones (AGT) was the telephone provider in most of Alberta from 1906 to 1991. AGT was formed by the Liberal government of Alexander Cameron Rutherford in 1906Wilson, Kevin G., Deregulating Telecommunications: U.S. and Can ...

and was a department of the provincial government.

Service area and central office codes

(403)-200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 225 226 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 303 305 312 313 319 333 338 351 354 355 365 366 367 369 370 371 374 375 383 384 385 386 387 389 390 397 398 399 400 401 402 404 407 408 410 428 437 440 441 444 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 481 483 487 500 503 508 509 510 512 513 514 515 516 517 519 520 521 523 530 531 532 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 547 554 560 561 567 568 569 570 571 585 589 590 592 604 605 606 607 608 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 629 630 640 645 648 650 651 656 660 661 662 663 667 668 669 670 671 680 681 685 686 689 690 691 692 693 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 705 708 710 714 716 717 718 719 720 723 724 726 727 730 731 735 736 744 747 750 764 765 766 767 769 770 771 774 775 776 777 781 796 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 813 815 816 817 818 819 826 827 828 829 830 831 835 836 837 850 852 860 861 862 863 869 870 873 874 875 879 880 888 889 890 891 899 906 909 910 918 919 920 921 922 923 926 927 931 943 944 955 956 966 968 969 970 971 973 974 975 978 984 987 988 990 991 992 993 997 998 999 * Acme (403)-546 * Airdrie (403)-316 420 768 912 945 948 960 980 * Arrowwood (403)-534 * Banff (403)-431 497 760 762 763 778 951 985 996 * Barons (403)-757 * Beiseker (403)-947 * Black Diamond (403)-933 * Blackfalds (403)-600 885 * Brooks (403)-362 363 376 409 427 501 633 793 794 925 *

Canmore Canmore may refer to: * Canmore (database), a Scottish national online database of ancient monuments; *Canmore, Alberta, a town in Canada; *the House of Dunkeld, a royal house that ruled Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, including **Mal ...

(403)-493 609 621 675 678 679 688 707 812 953 961 * Cardston (403)-653 659 * Carstairs (403)-337 940 * Castor (403)-882 *

Cereal A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more foo ...

(403)-326 * Claresholm (403)-468 489 490 625 682 706 *

Clive Clive is a name. People and fictional characters with the name include: People Given name * Clive Allen (born 1961), English football player * Clive Anderson (born 1952), British television, radio presenter, comedy writer and former barrister ...

(403)-784 * Coaldale (403)-345 405 *

Cochrane Cochrane may refer to: Places Australia *Cochrane railway station, Sydney, a railway station on the closed Ropes Creek railway line Canada * Cochrane, Alberta * Cochrane Lake, Alberta * Cochrane District, Ontario ** Cochrane, Ontario, a town wit ...

(403)-709 840 851 855 907 932 981 * Cremona (403)-637 * Coutts (403)-344 * Crossfield (403)-941 946 * Crowsnest Pass (403)-372 459 562 563 564 582 583 623 * Didsbury (403)-335 439 518 * Drumheller (403)-321 334 436 494 820 821 823 856 * East Coulee (403)-822 * Eckville (403)-746 *

Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( em ...

(403)-565 * Foremost (403)-867 *

Fort Macleod Fort Macleod ( ) is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It was originally named Macleod to distinguish it from the North-West Mounted Police barracks (Fort Macleod, built 1874) it had grown around. The fort was named in honour of the then Commiss ...

(403)-553 * Glenwood (403)-626 * High River (403)-336 422 469 498 601 602 603 649 652 841 908 * Hill Spring -See Glenwood * Hussar (403)-787 * Innisfail (403)-227 * Irricana (403)-935 * Irvine (403)-834 *

Kananaskis Improvement District Kananaskis Improvement District is an improvement district in Alberta, Canada. It is located within Alberta's Rockies, sharing much of its boundaries with Kananaskis Country. The administrative centre of the improvement district is Kananaski ...

(403)-591 *

(403)-782 786 789 * Lake Louise (403)-434 522 * Langdon (403)-936 954 * Leslieville (403)-729 * Lethbridge (403)-308 315 317 320 327 328 329 330 331 332 353 359 360 380 381 382 388 393 394 524 593 634 635 694 715 795 849 892 894 915 929 942 * Lomond (403)-792 * Longview (403)-558 * Magrath (403)-758 759 *

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff to the northwest are with ...

(403)-458 487 488 502 504 525 526 527 528 529 548 580 581 594 712 866 878 905 926 928 952 957 977 979 * Milk River (403)-647 * Milo (403)-599 * Morley (403)-881 *

Nobleford Nobleford is a town in southern Alberta, Canada that is approximately northwest of the City of Lethbridge. It has emerged as a bedroom community of Lethbridge. History The hamlet of Noble was established in 1909. It was named after Charles ...

(403)-824 *

Okotoks Okotoks (, originally ) is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to the 2016 Census, the town has a populati ...

(403)-306 842 917 938 939 982 995 *

Olds Olds may refer to: People * The olds, a jocular and irreverent online nickname for older adults * Bert Olds (1891–1953), Australian rules footballer * Carl D. Olds (1912–1979), New Zealand-born American mathematician * Chauncey N. Olds (1816� ...

(403)-415 438 507 556 559 586 672 791 994 * Picture Butte (403)-732 *

Pincher Creek Pincher Creek is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located immediately east of the Canadian Rockies, west of Lethbridge and south of Calgary. History For centuries before European settlers reached this area and inhabited it, Indig ...

(403)-339 432 484 624 627 632 683 * Ponoka (403)-704 783 785 790 913 963 *

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ...

(403)-752 *

(403)-302 304 307 309 314 318 340 341 342 343 346 347 348 349 350 352 356 357 358 373 391 392 396 406 505 506 550 588 596 597 598 713 754 755 848 872 877 896 967 986 *

Rocky Mountain House Rocky Mountain House is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately west of Red Deer at the confluence of the Clearwater and North Saskatchewan Rivers, and at the crossroads of Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) and Highway 11 (David ...

(403)-322 418 429 844 845 846 847 871 895 * Stettler (403)-323 430 740 741 742 743 916 *

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

(403)-756 * Strathmore (403)-324 325 361 480 499 814 901 902 934 962 983 * Sylvan Lake (403)-858 864 887 * Taber (403)-223 416 * Three Hills (403)-443 * Trochu (403)-442 * Turner Valley (403)-933 *

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

(403)-654 * Vulcan (403)-485 * Warner (403)-642

External links

CNA exchange list for area +1-403Telecom archives

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Area Code 403

403 Year 403 ( CDIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Rumoridus (or, less frequently, year 1156 '' Ab ...

Communications in Alberta Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947

History

Local exchange carriers

Service area and central office codes

See also

External links

References