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, rea ...

in the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated 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, World Numbering Zone ...

(NANP) for the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

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

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

area. This numbering plan area is also served by

area codes 587, 825, and 368 Area codes 587, 825, and 368 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the entire Canadian province of Alberta. They form an overlay with area code 403 of southern Alberta, and northern Alberta's 780. The province ...

, which form a complex overlay for all of Alberta.

History

Area code 403 was one of nine Canadian area codes of the

original North American area codes The original North American area codes were established by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1947. The assignment was in accord with the design of a uniform nationwide telephone numbering plan that supported the goal of dialin ...

assigned by the

American Telephone and Telegraph Company AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

(AT&T) in 1947. Its numbering plan area (NPA) originally comprised the entire province of Alberta. During the course of the expansion of telephone service in the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

and

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

, these were serviced primarily with the same area code starting in 1960, until the territories received

area code 867 Area code 867 is the thelephone 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) esta ...

on October 21, 1997. By early 1997, 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. By September of 1997,

Telus Communications Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, v ...

and the Canadian Radio and Television Commission initiated relief actions in planning a north/south split of the 403 numbering plan area, with a boundary line drawn north of

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

and Stettler. The split became effective on January 25, 1999, so that the northern part, including Edmonton, received the new

area code 780 Area code 780 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of Alberta. The numbering plan area comprises the northern two thirds of the province, including the Edmonton area. The area code was esta ...

. Permissive dialing of 403 in the new numbering plan area continued across the province until July 12, 1999, for calls terminating in the new numbering plan area. Within a decade, area code 403 was close to exhaustion once again. The projected

exhaust date The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated 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, World Numbering Zone ...

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 province. Optional

ten-digit dialing Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when Dialling (telephony), dialing to initiate a t ...

began on June 23, 2008 and became mandatory on September 12, 2008. On September 20, 2008,

Telus Mobility Telus Mobility (normally typeset as TELUS Mobility) is a Canadian Mobile network operator, wireless network operator and a division of Telus Communications which sells wireless services in Canada on its network. It operates 5G+, 5G, LTE (telecom ...

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 An incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) is a local telephone company which held the regional monopoly on landline service before the market was opened to competitive local exchange carriers, or the corporate successor of such a firm, in the Un ...

(ILEC) in 403 is Telus. Prior to 1997, the larger 403 included EdTel (Edmonton Telephones, now part of Telus) and

Northwestel Northwestel Inc. (stylized as NorthwesTel) is a Canadian telecommunications company that is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) and long-distance carrier in the territories of Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and part of northe ...

as ILECs. Before 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 Party of Alberta, Liberal government of Alexander Cameron Rutherford in 1906Wilson, Kevin G., Deregulating Teleco ...

and was a provincial government department.

Service area and central office codes

* Acadia Valley (403)-972 *

Acme Acme is Ancient Greek (ἀκμή; English transliteration: ''akmē'') for "the peak", "zenith" or "prime". It may refer to: Arts, entertainment and games * ''Acme'' (album), an album by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion * Acme and Septimius, a fic ...

(403)-546 * Airdrie (403)-316 420 768 912 945 948 960 980 * Alix (403)-747 * Arrowwood (403)-534 * Banff (403)-431 497 760 762 763 778 951 985 996 *

Barons Barons may refer to: *Baron (plural), a rank of nobility *Barons (surname), a Latvian surname *Barons, Alberta, Canada * ''Barons'' (TV series), a 2022 Australian drama series * ''The Barons'', a 2009 Belgian film Sports * Birmingham Barons, a Min ...

(403)-757 * Beiseker (403)-947 * Big Valley (403)-876 *

Blackfalds Blackfalds is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located along Highway 2A 13.5 km north of Red Deer. The town's name, Waghorn (for Walter Waghorn, post master), changed in 1903 to Blackfalds, after Blackfalds, a Scottish hamlet. Dem ...

(403)-600 885 * Bragg Creek (403)-949 * Brocket (403)-965 * Brooks (403)-362 363 376 409 427 501 633 793 794 925 * Burdett (403)-833 *

(403)-200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 225 226 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 303 305 312 313 319 333 338 351 354 355 365 366 367 369 370 371 374 375 383 384 385 386 387 389 390 397 398 399 400 401 402 404 407 408 410 428 437 440 441 444 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 481 483 487 500 503 508 509 510 512 513 514 515 516 517 519 520 521 523 530 531 532 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 547 554 560 561 567 568 569 570 571 585 589 590 592 604 605 606 607 608 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 629 630 640 645 648 650 651 656 660 661 662 663 667 668 669 670 671 680 681 685 686 689 690 691 692 693 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 705 708 710 714 716 717 718 719 720 723 724 726 727 730 731 735 736 744 747 750 764 765 766 767 769 770 771 774 775 776 777 781 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 813 815 816 817 818 819 826 827 828 829 830 831 835 836 837 850 852 860 861 862 863 869 870 873 874 875 879 880 888 889 890 891 899 906 909 910 918 919 920 921 922 923 926 927 931 943 944 955 956 966 968 969 970 971 973 974 975 978 984 987 988 990 991 992 993 997 998 999 * Canmore (403)-493 609 621 675 678 679 688 707 812 953 961 * Cardston (403)-653 659 *

Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs r ...

(403)-337 940 * Castor (403)-882 *

Cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

(403)-326 *

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

(403)-897 *

Claresholm Claresholm is a town located within southern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 2, approximately northwest of the City of Lethbridge and south of the City of Calgary. History The location was originally a watering stop for steam engin ...

(403)-468 489 490 625 682 706 * Clive (403)-784 * Coaldale (403)-345 405 * Cochrane (403)-709 840 851 855 907 932 981 * Cowley (403)-751 *

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

(403)-637 *

Coutts Coutts & Co. () is a British private bank and wealth manager headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channe ...

(403)-344 * Crossfield (403)-941 946 *

Crowsnest Pass Crowsnest Pass (sometimes referred to as Crow's Nest Pass, ) is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta–British Columbia border. Geography The pass is located in southeast British Columbia an ...

(403)-372 459 562 563 564 582 583 623 753 * Delburne (403)-749 * Diamond Valley (403)-933 *

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburb of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of ...

(403)-335 439 518 * Donalda (403)-883 *

Drumheller Drumheller is a town on the Red Deer River in the badlands of east-central Alberta, Canada. It is located northeast of Calgary and south of Stettler. The Drumheller portion of the Red Deer River valley, often referred to as Dinosaur Vall ...

(403)-321 334 436 494 820 821 823 856 * East Coulee (403)-822 * Eckville (403)-746 * Elkwater (403)-893 * Elnora (403)-773 *

Empress The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

(403)-565 * Exshaw (403)-673 674 * 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 List o ...

(403)-553 * Glenwood (403)-626 * Halkirk (403)-884 * Hanna (403)-857 * High River (403)-336 422 469 498 601 602 603 649 652 841 908 * Hilda (403)-838 *

Hill Spring Hill Spring is a village in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located west of Cardston and southeast of Pincher Creek, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. History Hill Spring was founded in 1910 by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- ...

-See Glenwood *

Hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

(403)-787 * Innisfail (403)-227 *

Irricana Irricana is a town in the Calgary Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. Surrounded by Rocky View County, it is adjacent to Alberta Highway 9, Highway 9, approximately northeast of Calgary. The name of the town is a portmanteau of the words "i ...

(403)-935 * Irvine (403)-834 * Jenner (403)-898 *

Kananaskis Improvement District Kananaskis Improvement District is an List of communities in Alberta#Improvement districts, improvement district in Alberta, Canada. It is located within Alberta's Rockies, between Calgary and Banff, sharing much of its boundaries with Kananaski ...

(403)-591 * Lacombe (403)-782 786 789 * Lake Louise (403)-434 522 * Langdon (403)-936 954 *

Leslieville Leslieville is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated east of the Don River. It is bounded by the Canadian National railway line and Gerrard Street to the north, McGee Street to the west, Eastern Avenue to south, and Coxwell ...

(403)-729 *

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 Alberta municipal censuses, 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

(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 * Manyberries (403)-868 *

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, 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, Alberta, R ...

(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 *

Mirror A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...

(403)-788 * Morley (403)-881 * Nobleford (403)-824 *

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

(403)-306 842 917 938 939 982 995 * Olds (403)-415 438 507 556 559 586 672 791 994 * Penhold (403)-886 * Picture Butte (403)-732 * Pincher Creek (403)-339 432 484 624 627 632 683 * Ponoka (403)-704 783 785 790 913 963 *

Raymond Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. 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 ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

(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 * Rimbey (403)-843 *

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 * Rolling Hills (403)-964 *

Schuler Schuler, also Schüler, Shuler, and Shuhler, is a surname. The German word ''Schüler'' directly translates to the English word ''scholar'' and has the meaning "pupil" in German. Notable people with the surname include: * Adon Shuler (born 2004), A ...

(403)-839 * Seven Persons (403)-832 * Stettler (403)-323 430 740 741 742 743 916 *

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

(403)-756 * Strathmore (403)-324 325 361 480 499 814 901 902 934 962 983 * Sunchild O'Chiese (403)-989 * Sundre (403)-419 426 636 638 * Sylvan Lake (403)-858 864 887 * Taber (403)-223 416 *

Three Hills Three Hills is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It takes its name from the three somewhat-larger-than-normal hills to its north. History Three Hills post office dates from 1904. Three Hills was incorporated as a village in 1912, the yea ...

(403)-443 924 * Trochu (403)-442 914 * Turner Valley (403)-933 *

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

(403)-654 * Vulcan (403)-485 486 496 *

Walsh Walsh may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walsh (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters Places Australia * Mount Walsh, Mount Walsh National Park Canada * Fort Walsh, one of the first Royal Canadian Mounted ...

(403)-937 * Warner (403)-642 * Waterton Park (403)-859 *

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

(403)-779

External links

Telecom archives

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Area Code 403 403 Communications in Alberta Telecommunications-related introductions in 1947

History

Local exchange carriers

Service area and central office codes

See also

External links

References