Area code 867

Area code 867, the area code for the three Canadian territories in the Arctic far north, was created on October 21, 1997, from portions of area codes 403 and 819. It is the least populated mainland North American area code, serving only about 100,000 people, but is the geographically largest (with Alaska's area code 907 a distant second). It is adjacent to Greenland, Russia (across the North Pole) and eight provinces or states (Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec), more jurisdictions than any other area code in North America. And it's one of four Canadian area codes yet to be overlaid, the others being 506, 709, and 807 for which 7-digit dialling is still used.

The incumbent local exchange carrier in 867 is Northwestel, a subsidiary of BCE. Until 1964, the geographic area now served by 867 did have up to five independent telephone companies, plus Bell Canada.

The +1-867 area code is the most expensive geographic calling area in Canada.Iristel (the one major CLEC in the region) bills its subscribers in other area codes a 15¢/minute premium to call 1-867 numbers and charges a $20/year premium to issue a 1-867 number in-region instead of assigning the same subscriber any other Canadian area code.

The digits were chosen to promote the theme "TOP of the world", as 867 spells TOP on a standard North American keypad. It has the largest land area of any area code in the North American Numbering Plan. The territorial extent reaches 3,173 km from Cape Dyer on Baffin Island to the Alaska border, and 4,391 km from the south end of James Bay to the North Pole. The largest distances between exchanges are 2,200 km from Sanikiluaq to Grise Fiord, and 3,365 km from Beaver Creek to Pangnirtung. Four different official time zones are observed within the area.

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