Telephone numbers in Switzerland

Telephone numbers in Switzerland are defined and assigned according to the Swiss telephone numbering plan administered by the Swiss Federal Office of Communications. The plan was changed many times and the most recent major reorganization was implemented in March 2002.

Switzerland telephone numbers
Location
Country Switzerland
Continent Europe
Access codes
Country calling code +41
International call prefix 00
Trunk prefix 0

Plan of 2002

The Swiss telephone numbering plan implements the ITU-T recommendation E.164 and is designated E.164/2002, based on its last major revision in 2002. It is a closed numbering plan,[1] which means that all telephone numbers, including the area code, have a fixed number of digits. Swiss area codes are officially termed national destination codes (NDC). A complete telephone number consists of ten digits: 0xx xxx xx xx. Two formats are distinguished: three digits for the NDC and seven digits for the subscriber number, and four digits for the NDC and six digits for the subscriber number. However, a few exceptions exist.

The associated dial plan requires that all numbers, even for local calls, must be dialed with the assigned NDC, in contrast to previous plans. When dialing from within the country, a prefix 0 must be dialed.

The plan was amended a few times, e.g., the transition of numbering zone 01 into 044 and 043.

National destination code

The national destination code (NDC) is the area code for Swiss telephone numbers. Within Switzerland the trunk code 0 must be dialed before the NDC, while it is not needed from international locations.

Telephone numbers are portable between numbering zones (ZN) or between GSM/UTMS mobile operators, and therefore an NDC does not imply that a caller is actually located in a particular zone or is serviced by any particular mobile operator.

The national destination codes are the following.[2]

Short numbers

Short dialing codes are assigned for special services or network features.[3][4]

Alternate proposed plan

Instead of E.164/2002, another more ambitious numbering plan was proposed. In this plan the prefix 0 was discarded, and the area codes were defined differently, with 20 to 49 for geographic areas, 50 to 59 reserved, 60-69 for nationwide numbering, 70-79 for mobile services, 80-89 for shared cost and toll free numbers, and 90 for premium rate services. The plan was not implemented because it required too many phone number and prefix changes, with associated high costs...

Changes

After 2002

The area code 01 was replaced with 044 (Zurich)

Between 1996 to 2002 (plan 2002)

On 29 March 2002 the Swiss dialling plan changed to a closed dialing plan, i.e. the zone prefix become mandatory also for local calls.

Until 1996 (plan 1996)

The previous plan removed a lot of area prefixes and added the seventh digit in phone numbers (usually a phone number (0cc) yx xx xx became (0dd) zzx xx xx).

References

  1. ↑ OFCOM (March 2010). "E.164 national numbering plan of Switzerland". Federal Office of Communications. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  2. ↑ OFCOM (2009-05-05). "Number blocks and codes". Federal Office of Communications. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
  3. ↑ eOFCOM (2009-05-05). "List of allocated numbers". Federal Office of Communications. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
  4. ↑ Swisscom (2009-05-05). "Service Numbers". Swisscom. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
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