Talk:Island Telecom

Agreement to share the 902 area code?

I do not fully agree with this statement.

902 was assigned in 1947, when the first 86 area codes of the NANP were assigned throughout the 48 states, 9 provinces and DC. At that time, 902 applied to all three Canadian Maritime provinces, and two years later, also covered Newfoundland. In 1955, New Brunswick and Newfoundland were split to area code 506, a condition that was still in effect in 1960-62 which is the earliest that DDD could have been introduced in Atlantic Canada. In 1962, Newfoundland was split to area code 709, leaving PEI as the only province still sharing an area code with another, probably due to the impracticality of assigning an entire area code to such a small population.

I would say, then, that the longtime sharing of 902 between two provinces is simply a vestige left from splitting New Brunswick and Newfoundland out of the 902 code in 1955. The fact that MT&T held a controlling ownership in IslandTel served to subordinate IslandTel's numbering assignments under its parent company.

One can only speculate what would happen if 902 neared exhaust. Given current CRTC tendencies on choice of code relief, an overlay seems more likely, in this case, perhaps a concentrated overlay of Nova Scotia only, while leaving PEI a supply of 902 CO codes. However, a split of PEI to a separate code cannot be ruled out. The most logical area code, however, 734 (PEI spelt out on the dial), is not available for assignment. GBC (talk) 06:54, 22 September 2009 (UTC)