Area codes 587 and 825


Area codes 587 and 825 are telephone area codes that cover all of Alberta, Canada, in addition to the incumbent codes, southern Alberta's 403 and northern Alberta's 780. Numbers in area code 587 started being allocated in late 2008. The new area codes overlay 403 and 780 simultaneously, covering the entire province, and make 10-digit dialing necessary throughout Alberta.
Prior to 1997, area code 403 encompassed Alberta, Yukon and the region that currently defines the Northwest Territories as well as a very small western portion of what is today Nunavut. However, in 1997, 403 began exclusively serving Alberta, with all other portions of 403 splitting off into a new area code 867. In January 1999, the northern two-thirds of Alberta, including Edmonton, split off as 780, leaving 403 to serve Calgary and southern Alberta. The projected exhaust date for area codes 403 and 780 was March and October 2009, respectively. In 1997, two area codes, 587 and 825, were reserved for Alberta's use by Bellcore.
The first of the new area codes, 587, entered service in 2008 as an overlay for the entire province. As a preliminary step, optional ten-digit dialling was introduced across the province on 23 June 2008 and became mandatory on 12 September 2008. On 20 September 2008, Telus Mobility began allocating numbers starting with area code 587 in the Calgary area. The alternative would have been splitting either 403 or 780—a step that would have resulted in portions of Alberta having to change their numbers for the second time in a decade. A similar step had been taken a year earlier in British Columbia, when area code 778 was converted into a province-wide overlay.
Since April 9, 2016, the province has been overlaid with an additional area code, 825.
Effective May 15, 2021, the province will be overlaid with an additional area code, 368. This will have the effect of allocating 31.9 million numbers to a province of 4.3 million people.

Communities allocated to date