Telecom dispute between Gibraltar and Spain

Until February 10 2007, Spain imposed restrictions on Gibraltar's ability to expand and modernise its telecommunications infrastructure. These included a refusal to recognise International Direct Dialling (IDD) code which restricted the expansion of the Gibraltar telephone numbering plan, and the prevention of roaming arrangements for Gibraltar GSM mobile phones in Spain and vice versa.

Following the signing of an agreement between the governments of Gibraltar, the United Kingdom and Spain in Cordoba in September 2006, these restrictions were removed with effect from February 10 2007.

History

Site of the first telephone exchange in City Mill Lane.

Gibraltar's first telephone exchange was set up in 1886 as a private enterprise and then taken over by the Government. In the Seventies there were three generations of automatic telephone exchange equipment in use with four and five digit numbers.

The volume of calls grew and a System/X digital exchange was installed and was taken over by a privatised telephone operator, Gibtelecom, who also operate a GSM network.

Telephone connections with Spain were severed by Spain’s leader, General Franco, in 1969, and were not restored until 1984. Since then, Gibraltar experienced restrictions causing problems with its telecommunications system, as a direct result of the Spanish sovereignty claim.

Numbering plan

With the introduction of International Direct Dialling in the 1970s, Gibraltar was allocated its own IDD code (350) by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which was accessible from any telephone network outside Spain. However, although physical connectivity existed between Gibraltar and Spain, the Spanish government forbade its operators from recognising this code.

When direct dialling from Spain was introduced, Gibraltar was treated as part of the Spanish telephone numbering plan, with callers dialling 956 (the area code for the adjacent province of Cadiz) followed by the digit 7, and the subscriber’s five-digit number in Gibraltar, which could only begin with the digits 4, 5 or 7.

Consequently, only 30,000 numbers available in Gibraltar could be dialled directly from Spain. With a population of nearly 28,000, this caused a shortage of new numbers that could be allocated to new telecom operators, thereby preventing deregulation of the industry as required by the European Union.

This also affected international calls from the rest of the world, because carriers using least cost routing, especially in the US, routed calls to Gibraltar via Spain, which prevented calls dialled using the code +350 from terminating in Gibraltar. Consequently, the caller would hear a recorded announcement saying that the number dialled did not exist. Even when calls routed via Spain were allowed to terminate in Gibraltar, under the 'sender keeps all' arrangement, Telefónica in Spain was able to keep revenue from these calls, instead of paying Gibtelecom's international termination charges. Although all other countries and territories recognised the +350 dialling code, not all networks blocked calls to Gibraltar made using the Spanish code +34 9567, which allowed subscribers to call Gibraltar for the cost of a call to Spain.

Owing to the demand for mobile phones, Gibraltar introduced new number ranges, but these could not be dialled directly from Spain. For example, Gibtelecom's pre-paid services had eight-digit numbers with the prefix 540, but when using the 9567 prefix from Spain, the last three digits were not recognised, and callers were required to re-enter the eight digit number, during which time they were being charged. However, if the number were dialled from the rest of the world using the +350 prefix, the call would be terminated in Gibraltar without problem.

Following the removal of Spanish restrictions February 10 2007, all mobile telephone numbers in Gibraltar can be dialled in full from Spain, using the 00 350 international prefix. The Spanish numbering space allocated to Gibraltar has now been withdrawn from use, and will now only be used for numbers in Spain.

As a result, in June 2007, the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority announced that Gibraltar fixed line numbers would be increased from five to eight digits, with existing numbers being prefixed with '200' thus + 350 52200 becomes + 350 20052200

GSM roaming

Gibraltar's only GSM operator, Gibtelecom, was prevented from establishing roaming agreements with Spanish operators. As a consequence, once GIBTEL GSM customers crossed into Spain and move outside the area of coverage of their own base stations, they were unable to use their phones until they entered another EU member state or were within range base stations in Morocco.

This was solved on February 10 2007 and now it is possible to enter Spain with GSM roaming in the same manner as any other country.

Resolution

Under the September 2006 accord in Cordoba between Gibraltar, Spain and the UK, a timetable was agreed to remove these restrictions. Spain recognises Gibraltar's international dialing code, thereby allowing Gibraltar to expand its telephone numbering plan, and allow Spanish mobile phone operators to enter into roaming arrangements with Gibtelecom. These measures came into force on 10 February 2007.

See also

• Communications in Gibraltar