The first telephone system was installed in Newfoundland in 1885, but domestic long-distance calls within the Dominion of Newfoundland could be placed on a limited basis only in 1921. The first long-distance call from Newfoundland to Canada was made on January 10, 1939, by using a shortwave radio link operated by the Canadian Marconi Company in Montréal. Shortwave radio also carried calls from St. John's to London, England.
When planning was completed for the original NANP area codes in 1947, Newfoundland had not yet become of part of Canada. No provisions had been made to include Newfoundland in the continental numbering plan, which later became the North American Numbering Plan. The Newfoundland telephone system was entirely manual, and dial telephones came to St. John's only in 1948.[1]
After Newfoundland's Confederation with the Dominion of Canada was enacted in 1949, the first cross-province long-distance call was placed from St. John's to Port aux Basques in 1949.[1]
Newfoundland was added to area code 902, which already covered the three Maritime provinces, and which remains in use throughout Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. New Brunswick and Newfoundland were split from area code 902 to area code 506 in 1955. In 1962, Labrador was split off and combined with Newfoundland to form a new numbering plan area, with own area code 709.[2] Canadian direct-distance dial locations gradually increased over the next several years, beginning in 1958 with the country's largest cities, Toronto and Montreal. The area codes served mostly for operator routing purposes until customer dialing of long-distance calls became common in the 1960s.
The incumbent local exchange carrier for area code 709 is Bell Aliant, which is owned by Bell Canada, which was formed in 1999 as a result of a merger that included NewTel Communications (previously Newfoundland Telephone). There had been as many as nine companies in Newfoundland and Labrador until 1951. NewTel acquired the last independent company in 1988.
Area code 709 was expected to be exhausted by 2027.
In 2017, area code 879 was assigned as the second area code for Newfoundland and Labrador for relief action by overlay.[3] After being suspended indefinitely in 2021,[4] relief was rescheduled by the CRTC on September 15, 2023, for activation of an overlay on February 17, 2024.[5]
