Telephone numbers in France

France telephone numbers

5 geographic zones
Location
Country France
Continent Europe
Regulator ARCEP
Type Closed
NSN length 9
Typical format 0X XX XX XX XX
Access codes
Country calling code 33
International call prefix 00
Trunk prefix 0

The French telephone numbering plan is not only used for metropolitan France but also for the French overseas departments and some overseas collectivities.

The plan uses a ten-digit closed numbering scheme, where the first two digits denote the area:

All geographic numbers are dialed in the ten-digit format, even for local calls. The international access code also changed from 19 to the International Telecommunication Union's recommended 00, bringing France into line with many other countries.

When calling France from abroad, the leading zero should be omitted: for example, to call a number in Southwest France, one would dial +33 509758351.

French people usually state phone numbers as a sequence of five double-digit numbers, e.g., 0x xx xx xx xx (and not, for example, 0 xxx xxx xxx).

History

On October 25, 1985, France changed to a system of two areas: outside Paris the old area code was incorporated into the subscriber's eight-digit number; for Paris, the code "1" was retained, and a digit "4" was added to the front of seven digit numbers - for example, (fictional) Paris number 16 1 234 56 78 became 16 1 42 34 56 78. For numbers in the Île-de-France surrounding Paris, the old codes "3" and "6" joined the old seven digit numbers to become eight digit numbers and were assigned to the Paris area code "1". To call the rest of France from Paris, however, the trunk prefix "16" had to be dialed before the eight-digit number, and to call Paris from the rest of France, the prefix "16" had to be dialed, followed by the area code for Paris "1" and the eight digit number.

In 1996, this changed to the present ten-digit system.

Following liberalisation in 1998, subscribers could access different carriers by replacing the "0" (omitted from numbers when called from outside France) with another digit. For example, Cegetel required subscribers to dial "7", e.g.: Paris 71 xx xx xx xx, instead of 01 xx xx xx xx. Similarly, the international access code using Cegetel would be "70" instead of "00".

The 09 prefix was introduced in September 2006[1] and older numbers such as 08 7X XX XX XX are replaced by 09 5X XX XX XX (telephone service offered by Internet Provider "Free").

Overseas departments and territories

The French overseas departments (départements d'outre mer or DOMs), Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion have separate country codes from metropolitan France, although they are treated as part of the French numbering plan, with direct dialing for calls between the DOMs (including collectivités territoriales) and metropolitan France. Guadeloupe shares its country code with the collectivities Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin). Calls between the DOMs and metropolitan France require only the '0' to be dialed.

Since 2001, telephone numbers in the DOMs have followed the same ten-digit format as metropolitan France, with the country code being used as a geographical area code:

Guadeloupe, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin

From France:

Outside France:

French Guiana

From France:

Outside France:

Martinique

From France:

Outside France:

Réunion

From France:

Outside France:

Others

Before March 30, 2007, the collectivité départementale of Mayotte used country code +269, shared with the Comoros:

On March 30, 2007, Mayotte adopted the +262 code, used by Réunion, and a new numbering range was introduced for mobile phones:

Calls to Saint Pierre and Miquelon require only '0', country code and the subscriber's six-digit number, e.g.:

Calls to and from the territoires d'outre mer, however, require full international dialing, hence the international access code and country code must be used:

Andorra and Monaco

Until 17 December 1994, Andorra formed part of the French numbering plan, with numbers beginning with 628, after which the principality adopted the country code 376. Consequently, all calls from France to Andorra must be dialed in international format 00 376 plus the phone number, while calls from Andorra to France similarly must be dialed as 00 33 plus the phone number. On 21 June 1996, Monaco similarly adopted its own country code 377, replacing access from France (+33 93).[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ art-telecom
  2. ↑ Hydrographic Review, Volume 73, International Hydrographic Bureau, 1996, page 179
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