The first telephone system was installed in Newfoundland in 1885, but domestic long-distance calls within theDominion of Newfoundland could be placed on a limited basis only in 1921. The first long-distance call from Newfoundland to Canada was made on January 10, 1939, by using ashortwave radio link operated by theCanadian Marconi Company inMontréal. Shortwave radio also carried calls from St. John's toLondon, England.
When the first comprehensive continentaltelephone numbering plan was created in 1947, establishing theoriginal North American area codes, Newfoundland had not yet become of part ofCanada. No provisions had been made to include Newfoundland in the numbering plan. The Newfoundland telephone system was entirely manual, and dial telephones came to St. John's only in 1948.[1]
After Newfoundland's Confederation with the Dominion of Canada was enacted in 1949, the first cross-province long-distance call was placed fromSt. John's toPort aux Basques in 1949.[1]
In 1949, Newfoundland was added in an expansion ofnumbering plan area902, which comprised the threeMaritime provinces. The area code remains in use forNova Scotia andPrince Edward Island.New Brunswick and Newfoundland were split from the NPA witharea code 506 in 1955. In 1962, Labrador was split off and combined with Newfoundland to form a new numbering plan area with area code 709.[2] Canadian direct-distance dial locations gradually increased over the next several years, beginning in 1958 with the country's largest cities,Toronto and Montreal. The area codes served mostly forOperator Toll Dialing until customer dialing of long-distance calls became common in the 1960s.
The incumbent local exchange carrier for area code 709 isBell Aliant. It is owned byBell Canada, which was formed in 1999 as a result of a merger that includedNewTel Communications (previously Newfoundland Telephone). There had been as many as nine companies in Newfoundland and Labrador until 1951. NewTel acquired the last independent company in 1988.
In 2017, area code 879 was assigned as the second area code for Newfoundland and Labrador for relief action by overlay.[3][4] In July 2020, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator estimated an exhaustion stage for NPA 709 of June 2028,[5] which led to an indefinite suspension of relief action in 2021. Relief planning was rescheduled by the CRTC on September 15, 2023, for activation of anoverlay on February 17, 2024.[6]
.svg)