A second area code will soon be necessary in Saskatchewan due to the increase in competitive activity amongst service providers and because of the growth of wireless services. All of this has depleted the pool of available 306 area code numbers.Don't worry folks; you will not have to change your current phone number. The new area code will cover the entire province, and be given out to new customers. For this reason, 10-digit dialing will shortly be made mandatory.The decision for the new code was made on August 26, 2011, when the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued a decision. SaskTel and other service providers will move to mandatory local 10-digit dialing beginning May 11, 2013. The overlay method was chosen over the provincial split method because it does not require current customers to change their area code, which is what most residents worried about. The two area codes will co-exist, allowing for an increase in the number of available telephone numbers.You will not need to dial 1 before placing a 10-digit local call, a new area code will not mean that your calls will be long distance. Starting February 25, 2013 callers will be reminded by an automated message each time they dial a seven digit number, that they must dial 10 digits in future. At this point the call will still be automatically completed.May 11, 2013, calls will no longer be completed when callers forget to dial the area codes.What all this means is that two different people within Saskatchewan could potentially have the same phone number - one with the 306 area code and the other with the 639 area code. Two small northern communities, Kinoosao and Uranium City, are the only Saskatchewan communities that will continue to use 7-digit dialing for local calls after May 2013 due to out of date technology and required equipment.
