Area codes 587, 825, and 368

The province-wide overlay complex made ten-digit dialing mandatory throughout the province.

[1] The first of the new area codes, 587, entered service on September 19, 2008, as an overlay for the entire province.

[2][3][4] As a preliminary step, ten-digit dialling was introduced across the province on an optional basis on June 23.

[5] An overlay was chosen rather than a splitting 403 or 780, which would have resulted in subscribers in portions of Alberta to change their telephone 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 an overlay complex for the entire province.