Area Codes 613 and 343

Area Codes 613 And 343

Area code 613 (and overlay area code 343) are area codes for Ottawa and surrounding Eastern Ontario, Canada. 613 is one of the 86 original area codes of North America assigned in October 1947. Before area code 450 was created, it bounded 514, and before the introduction of area code 905 in 1993, it bounded 416.

In addition to its current boundary, 613 also originally covered all of Northern Ontario and much of Southwestern Ontario. In 1953, portions of 613 and 416 were combined to form area code 519 in Southwestern Ontario; Then, in 1957, the Northern parts of 613 (along with a small section of 519) became the 705 area code, leaving 613 covering only Eastern Ontario.

Ten-digit dialing in the area became mandatory on October 21, 2006. The Ottawa area has local dialing capability with the Gatineau region in area code 819. The Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area formerly had "exchange protection", meaning that an exchange assigned in Ottawa could not also be assigned in Gatineau, and vice versa. With the introduction of 10-digit dialing, this protection will be discontinued, although the local dialing capability will be maintained.

Area code 343 was activated for the region as of May 17, 2010. This is sooner than originally planned; explosive growth in the region (personal, business, mobile and fax) exhausted available numbers several years earlier than anticipated. The new area code 343 was proposed as an overlay in 2007. The plan, confirming 343 as the new overlay code, was approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on September 10, 2008.

The main incumbent local exchange carrier in 613 is Bell Canada, although there are some five independent companies serving rural exchanges—the Lansdowne Rural Telephone Company serving Lansdowne; the North Frontenac Telephone Company serving Sharbot Lake and Parham; the North Renfrew Telephone Company serving Beachburg, Westmeath, and the area outside of Pembroke; the Roxborough Telephone Company serving Moose Creek; and the Westport Telephone Company serving Westport. Also served by area code 613 and Bell Canada is Saint Regis, Quebec, a reservation bordering Fort Covington, New York, and Rapides-des-Joachims, Quebec, which shares the same exchange as the neighboring community of Rolphton.