Which carrier owns 873 numbers?
1 holders appear in the 673 number blocks assigned in 873 of the 800 possible. A further 18.7% sits with holders outside the national carriers, counted together: competitive local exchange carriers, VoIP providers and the resellers behind app-based numbers. These are blocks allocated by the CNA, not customers. Number portability means a block registered to one carrier can be full of numbers now served by another, so the share describes the registry, not the market. The top 1 holders shown account for 18.7% of assigned blocks; the rest is spread across smaller holders that the summary file does not list individually. Blocks are allocated to rate centers; the largest in 873 are Sherbrooke (44), Ottawa-Hull (37) and Trois-Rivieres (21).
Share of assigned number blocks
Of the 673 blocks assigned in 873 out of 800 possible; the 1 holders shown cover 18.7% of them. Each block is 10,000 consecutive numbers. Bars are scaled to the largest holder, not to 100%.
Why this is not “who your caller uses”
Number portability means a subscriber keeps their number when they change carrier, while the block stays registered to whoever originally received it. In a code that has been in service for decades, a large share of numbers are served by a carrier other than the registered holder. The table above is an accurate picture of the numbering registry and a poor proxy for market share.
Where the blocks sit
Blocks are allocated to rate centers – the billing geography, not the carrier. Showing the largest 5 of 162.
Frequently asked
Which carrier owns 873 numbers?
Most blocks sit with smaller CLEC and VoIP providers rather than a national carrier, across 1 holders in total. And ownership of a block is not the same as who serves a given number: people keep their numbers when they switch carriers.
Can I tell someone's carrier from a 873 number?
Not from the area code, and not reliably from the first six digits either. Portability has been in place for two decades, so the block's registered holder is often not the current carrier. A number-level lookup is the only way, and that is what the tool on the area code page does.
What does “Other CLEC / VoIP” mean here?
It is not a company. It is every holder outside the national carriers added together – competitive local exchange carriers, VoIP providers and the wholesalers behind app-based and business numbers. In many codes it is the largest line in the table, which is itself the finding: numbering has moved away from the big carriers.
How many carriers have numbers in 873?
1 appear as block holders in the current the CNA records, and blocks are spread over 162 rate centers.
Sources
- NANPA – NPA Database (npa_report.csv), file date 11/01/2026, retrieved Nov 1, 2026
- Canadian Numbering Administrator – CO Code Status, data date 2026-10-31, retrieved Nov 1, 2026
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