Ten Digit Dialing Coming

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today announced that effective September 12, 2008, 10-digit local dialing will be required for all local calls in British Columbia.

To prevent the exhaustion of telephone numbers in the area code 250 region, 10-digit dialing will begin on June 23, 2008. The change to 10-digit dialing will be gradually introduced over the following weeks and become mandatory by September 12, 2008.

In addition, effective July 4, 2007, the use of area code 778 will be expanded to provide numbers in the region served by area code 250. This means that customers seeking new numbers in the current 250 area code regions could be given a number starting with area code 778.

These measures are being implemented in response to the Canadian Numbering Administrator's forecast that the area code 250 region will run out of telephone numbers by January 2008.