Telephone numbers in the Philippines

Philippines telephone numbers
Fixed-line area codes
Location
Country Philippines
Continent Asia
Type open
Typical format 0X-XXXXXXX
0XX-XXXXXXX
09XX-XXXXXXX (mobile phones)
Access codes
Country calling code +63
International call prefix 00
Trunk prefix 0

Telephone numbers in the Philippines follow an open telephone numbering plan and an open dial plan. Both plans are regulated by the National Telecommunications Commission, an attached agency under the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

The Philippines is assigned an international dialling code of 63 by ITU-T. Telephone numbers are fixed at seven digits, with area codes fixed at one, two, or three digits (a six-digit system was used until the mid-1990s; four to five digits were used in the countryside). Mobile phone numbers are always 10 digits (three digits for the service provider, plus a seven-digit number).

When making long-distance calls in the Philippines, the prefix 0 for domestic calls and 00 for international calls are used.

Fixed-line area codes

Philippine area codes for fixed-line or landline telephones are fixed at two digits, excluding Metro Manila, the province of Rizal and the towns and cities of Obando in Bulacan, Bacoor in Cavite and San Pedro, Laguna, which use the area code 2. Some smaller carriers concentrated within a specific geographic area may issue four- or five-digit area codes, but these are being phased out in favour of the standard two-digit area codes.

Occasionally, a particular area may change area codes. For example, the City of Bacoor in Cavite has been included in the geographical coverage area of area code 2 per the National Telecommunications Commission's Memorandum Order No. 08-09-2011, although almost all fixed-lines in the city still use the old 46 area code due to the poor compliance of PLDT and Globe to the said memorandum order. PLDT's response to the memorandum order is the release of its "Call All Manila SIM", an exclusive wireless landline service for Bacoor residents, however the Barangay Molino VII (Sitio Gawaran) and Sitio Malipay in Molino IV now used area code 2.

Sometimes area codes are shared by a number of local government entities to maximise their use. Some area codes are shared by multiple provinces, as is the case for former sub-provinces like Guimaras and Iloilo; newly carved provinces like Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga del Sur; or provinces with small populations like Marinduque and Quezon. In extreme cases, area codes are shared across an island like in Leyte and Samar, or even entire regions, such as with the Cordillera Administrative Region. In order to identify the call's point of origin, the three-digit telephone exchange prefix is checked.

Since the Philippines employs an open dial plan, telephone numbers dialled within a given area code do not require the area code, excluding calls made from mobile phones or pay phones. When dialling other area codes, the domestic long distance access prefix 0 is added, but when dialling from overseas, the domestic prefix is not included. As such, a typical telephone number in Metro Manila and Rizal would look like this:

  • Within Metro Manila, Rizal and municipalities of Obando, Bacoor and San Pedro: 1234567
  • Outside Metro Manila, Rizal and municipalities of Obando, Bacoor and San Pedro: 02-1234567
  • Overseas calls: +63-2-1234567

Areas are grouped into seven broad areas determining the first digit of a given area code. These areas and their accompanying area codes are listed below:

Area 2 – National Capital Region, Rizal and Surroundings

Area 3 – Western and Central Visayas

Area 4 – Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog (Calabarzon and Mimaropa)

Area 5 – Bicol Region and Eastern Visayas

Area 6 – Western and Central Mindanao (Zamboanga Peninsula, ARMM and Northern SOCCSKSARGEN)

Area 7 – Northern Luzon (Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley and Cordillera Administrative Region)

Area 8 – Northern, Eastern and Southern Mindanao (including Davao Region, Caraga and Southern SOCCSKSARGEN)

List of fixed-line area codes

Mobile phone area codes

Mobile phone area codes are three digits long and always start with the number 9, although recently new area codes have been issued with 8 as the starting digit, particularly for VOIP phone numbers. However, the area code indicates the service provider and not necessarily a geographic region. Unlike fixed-line telephones, the long-distance telephone dialling format is always observed when using a mobile phone. Therefore, mobile phone numbers always have the format "+63 (xxx) xxx-xxxx" for international callers and "0(xxx) xxx-xxxx" for domestic callers.

Some of the first area codes to be assigned for mobile phones were 912 for Mobiline/Piltel, 915 for Islacom, 917 for Globe Telecom, 918 for Smart Communications, and 973 for Express Telecom.[1][2][3] As service began growing rapidly since the 1990s, new codes have been added to meet demand as existing codes have since been exhausted. Newer codes often come immediately after the last code exhausted, but this might not be the case if the next code is already in use. 965/966 are the latest codes (Feb 2018) and are used for Globe & TM.

Areas codes are grouped by provider with no single contiguous block of codes for a single provider. The companies and their respective area codes are listed below:

The list of prefixes is updated as of March 2018 [4]

Key:

First 2
digits		Third digit
1234567890
90 GGSMSMSMSM
91 SMGGGSMSMSM
92 SMSUSUSUGGSMSMSM
93 SUSUGGABS/GSMSMSM
94 SUSUGSMSMSMSMSM
95 GGSM
96 GGG
97 EEGGNN
98 SM
99 GCP/GGSMSM

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://networkprefix.blogspot.com
  2. ↑ http://techphil.altervista.org/2015/06/mobile
  3. ↑ http://philippinenumbers.techphil.net Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ https://www.prefix.ph/smart-users/2018-updated-complete-list-of-philippine-mobile-network-prefixes/
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