Canadian Lyndsay

Update: The dates are confirmed.  Ten-digit dialing becomes mandatory on October 20, 2012 with the new area code being introduced on November 3, 2012.

I read on the Winnipeg Free Press tonight that Winnipeg will be getting a new area code in 2012 – Manitoba’s new area code: 431.

This also means that at that time, we’ll follow the leads of areas Ontario, Alberta and BC that will have to start 10-digit dialing.

Here are some tidbits about the tentative implementation plan from the Free Press Article:

• A second area code will come into place between May and October or November of 2012.
• The new area code will be 431.
• Telephone subscribers will have to dial the appropriate area code and the existing seven-digit number to make a local call.
• The first 431 numbers will likely be assigned in early 2013 to new cell phone customers.
• New landline customers will get their numbers with the 431 area code in late May 2013.