International call prefix
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of every country.
Standardisation
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recommends the sequence 00 as a standard for an international call prefix, and this has been implemented by the majority of countries.[1] Some countries, however – mainly those following the North American Numbering Plan – use 011 as the international call prefix while certain former Soviet Union countries continue to use 810. Other prefixes (000, 001, 0011, 119, etc.) are also in use in a small number of countries.
Some countries require that the 00 prefix is followed immediately by a carrier code, i.e., a code that identifies the provider of international dialing through which the . selected at the time of dialling by the subscriber, or provide differing call prefixes depending on the carrier.
Some countries also offer simplified dialling arrangements for calls to neighbouring countries.[2]
To avoid confusion especially in international context, a plus sign (+) is often used as a graphic symbol of the international access code; it informs the caller to replace it with the prefix code appropriate for their country.[3] Additionally, the GSM mobile telephony standard allows the use of the plus sign in place of the international call prefix; the mobile operator then automatically converts the plus sign to the correct international prefix, depending on the location where the phone is being used. This enables callers to use the same stored number when calling from any country.
Examples
Calling +64 3 477 4000, which is the number of Dunedin City Council in New Zealand (country code: 64), from outside New Zealand:
| Call placed from | IDD prefix | Number dialled |
|---|---|---|
| Countries that follow ITU recommendation (incl. European Union, United Kingdom, China, India) | 00 | 00 64 3 477 4000 |
| Kenya, Singapore, Tanzania, Uganda | 000 | 000 64 3 477 4000 |
| Guyana, Mongolia | 001 | 001 64 3 477 4000 |
| Australia | 0011 | 0011 64 3 477 4000 |
| Nigeria | 009 | 009 64 3 477 4000 |
| Japan | 010 | 010 64 3 477 4000 |
| Countries that follow NANP (incl. United States, Canada) | 011 | 011 64 3 477 4000 |
| Cuba | 119 | 119 64 3 477 4000 |
| Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan | 810 | 810 64 3 477 4000 |
| Systems that allow the plus symbol (+), e.g. mobile networks | auto-generated | + 64 3 477 4000 |
See also
References
- ^ "E.164 – 12" (PDF). International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T). Archived from the original on 2019-06-20. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
See page 22 for a list of exceptions
- ^ "International landline dialing prefix by country". T-Mobile. Archived from the original on 2005-11-26.
- ^ "E.123 - 7.1" (PDF). International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T). Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
See page 9