Country Code: +359
International Call Prefix: 00
Trunk Prefix: 0
Telephone numbers in Bulgaria are under an open dialing plan, similar to those of Germany and Austria. Area codes should only dialed when necessary. Calling the same area and including an unnecessary area code will cause the call to be billed as if the call was to another area. Area codes are prepended with a trunk code of 0 when dialled domestically.
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Domestic numbers are limited to eight digits in length. Area codes vary in length from one to five digits. Subscriber number lengths vary accordingly, from seven digits down to three digits. Sofia lines on digital switches have seven-digit numbers, analog six; in Plovdiv, Varna and Ruse both are six digits; and in most other province capitals lines on digital switches have six-digit numbers and analog five.
For a very long time, the state-owned Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) had a monopoly on fixed telephone networks. However, it ended when a special law was adopted. BTC was privatized in 2004 and competing operators appeared.
Larger areas, such as Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, and Burgas, are subdivided into zones. Although one cannot further reduce the number of dialed digits, the number itself shows which zone it is located in. For example, in Sofia, numbers starting with 2, 82, 92 are located in the Western suburbs, 7, 87, 97 in the Eastern suburbs, and 98 in the central area.
In the recent decade there is an intensive process of replacing the old analog switches with modern digital ones. In areas where both analog and digital switchers are operating, a subscriber number shows by its first digit if it is connected to an analog or a digital switch. In some areas it is even possible to guess if a subscriber number was changed from analog to digital during its existence or was subscribed as digital initially. For example, in Blagoevgrad a number starting with 88 was subscribed as digital, and a number starting with a single 8 was analog before.
The first digit also shows if a particular subscriber number is operated by BTC or another operator.
The area codes are always cited with the trunk code. However, within the area, or when the Sofia code of (0)2 can be guessed from the context, it is omitted.
Until 20 July 2003 GSM networks used six-digit subscriber numbers in accordance with the limit of eight digits for the domestic part of a number. With the increase of subscribers (and an international requirement), all (except Vivacom, which started operations in 2006) acquired new access codes. On 20 July 2003, Mobiltel used three codes ((0)87, (0)88, (0)89) and Globul used two ((0)98 and (0)99). When these limits were also to be overwhelmed, seven-digit subscriber numbers and single access codes per operator were introduced. Mobikom had gone through a similar change in mid-90s (from (0)799 to (0)48).
This change provokes an error in citing mobile numbers, quite similar to that of erroneous UK telephone codes. The first digit of the subscriber number is most often cited as part of the access code, e.g. (0)887 XXXXXX, instead of the correct (0)88 7XXXXXX. This error remains for new subscriber numbers and even for Vivacom numbers which have never been six digits long. However, unlike the situation in UK, this error has no effect since a mobile number must always be dialled with the access code.
Dialing to a mobile network requires the access code together with the 0. Dialing from a mobile network requires either an area or access code with the trunk or international format ((0)YY YXXXXXX or +359 YY YXXXXXX). The latter becomes a normal practice, since most people use number lists of their handsets, more people use their phones in roaming and all four operators show the caller ID in international format.
As in many countries, an area code is often written with the dialling code 0 prepended as if it were part of the area code itself.
17x Paging services (six digits, not active: 177: Link Paging, 178: Varna Page, 179: Mobipage) 2 Sofia 30x, 30xx and 30xxx Smolyan Province codes (301: Smolyan, 309: Pamporovo) 31x, 31xx and 31xxx Plovdiv Province codes 32 Plovdiv 33x and 33xx Plovdiv Province codes (331: Asenovgrad) 34 Pazardzhik 35x, 35xx and 35xxx Pazardzhik Province codes (350: Peshtera, 359: Velingrad) 36x, 36xx and 36xxx Kardzhali Province codes (361: Kardzhali) 37x, 37xx and 37xxx Haskovo Province codes (373: Harmanli, 379: Svilengrad) 38 Haskovo 39x and 39xx Haskovo Province codes (391: Dimitrovgrad) 41x, 41xx and 41xxx Stara Zagora Province codes (316: Chirpan) 42 Stara Zagora 430 Tetra mobile network 43x, 43xx and 43xxx Stara Zagora Province codes (431: Kazanlak) 44 Silven 45x and 45xx Sliven Province codes (453: Kotel, 457: Nova Zagora) 46 Yambol 47x, 47xx and 47xxx Yambol and Haskovo Provinces codes (470: Topolovgrad, 478: Elhovo) 48 NMT mobile network Mobikom (six digits) 51x, 51xx and 51xxx Varna Province codes (518: Provadiya, 519: Devnya) 52 Varna 53x, 53xx and 53xxx Shumen Province codes (537: Novi Pazar, 538: Veliki Preslav) 54 Shumen 55x, 55xx and 55xxx Burgas Province codes (550: South coast zone 1, 554: Nesebar) 56 Burgas 57x, 57xx and 57xxx Dobrich Province codes (570: Kavarna, 579: Balchik) 58 Dobrich 59x, 59xx and 59xxx Burgas Province codes (590: South coast zone 2, 596: Pomorie) 60x, 60xx and 60xxx Targovishte Province codes (601: Targovishte, 608: Popovo) 61x, 61xx and 61xxx Veliko Tarnovo Province codes (610: Pavlikeni, 618 Gorna Oryahovitza) 62 Veliko Tarnovo 63x, 63xx and 63xxx Veliko Tarnovo and Pleven Provinces codes (631: Svishtov) 64 Pleven 65x, 65xx and 65xxx Pleven Province codes (650: Levski, 658: Belene) 66 Gabrovo 67x, 67xx and 67xxx Gabrovo and Lovech Provinces codes (670: Troyan, 675: Sevlievo) 68 Lovech 69x, 69xx and 69xxx Lovech Province codes (697: Lukovit) 70x and 70xx Kyustendil Province codes (701: Dupnitsa) 71xx and 71xxx Sofia Province codes 72x Sofia Province codes (720: Etropole, 721: Kostinbrod, 722: Samokov) 73 Blagoevgrad 74x, 74xx and 74xxx Blagoevgrad Province codes (745: Petrich, 746: Sandanski, 749: Bansko) 75x, 75xx and 75xxx Blagoevgrad and Sofia Provinces codes (750: Borovets, 751: Gotse Delchev) 76 Pernik 77x, 77xx and 77xxx Pernik Province codes (777: Radomir) 78 Kyustendil 79xx Kyustendil Province codes 800 Toll free numbers (five digits) 81x, 81xx and 81xxx Ruse Province codes (817: Byala) 82 Ruse 83x, 83xx and 83xxx Razgrad Province codes (838: Kubrat) 84 Razgrad 85x, 85xx and 85xxx Silistra Province codes (855: Dulovo, 857: Tutrakan) 86 Silistra 87 GSM/UMTS mobile network Vivacom (seven digits) 88 GSM/UMTS mobile network MTel (seven digits) 89 GSM/UMTS mobile network Globul (seven digits) 900 Value added services (five digits) 91x, 91xx and 91xxx Vratsa Province codes (910: Mezdra, 915: Byala Slatina) 92 Vratsa 93x, 93xx and 93xxx Vidin Province codes (936: Belogradchik, 938: Kula) 94 Vidin 95x, 95xx and 95xxx Montana Province codes (953: Berkovitsa) 96 Montana 97x, 95xx and 95xxx Vratsa Province codes (971: Lom, 973: Kozloduy) 98 MVNOs on GSM/UMTS mobile network MTel (seven digits) 999 MAX Telecom (WiMAX network)
112 general emergency call 120 wake up call 121 operator for long-distance calls within Bulgaria 123 operator for international calls 124 operator for international calls 125 operator for international calls 130 phone lines problems 143 emergency road service & road assistance 144 telephone information service 146 emergency road service & road assistance 147 area codes within Bulgaria 148 area codes within Bulgaria 149 area codes within Bulgaria 150 medical emergency 152 BTC local calls rates 153 BTC long-distance within Bulgaria calls rates 154 BTC international calls rates 157 BTC international calls rates 159 cultural events guide 160 fire 164 shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna) 165 traffic police 166 police 167 horoscope 168 National Radio schedule 169 horoscope 170 BTC assistance 171 theater schedule (by city) 172 currency exchange rates 173 tales for kids 174 trains time-table (by city) 175 weather forecast 176 BTC information 177 tales for kids 178 pharmacy information 179 currency exchange rates 180 time service 181 TV programs 182 tramp shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna) 183 ocean shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna) 184 tanker shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna) 185 line shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna) 186 BTC digital services information 187 send a telegram 188 TV programs 190 BTC rates guide 191 cinema schedule (by city) 192 TV programs 193 TV programs 194 TV programs 195 sport news 196 sport lottery results 197 international dialing codes 198 BTC terms of payment 199 automatic telephone information guide