Ministry of Information and Communications speaks out about changing telephone area codes

As reported, from March 1, a series of provinces and centrally-run cities will change their landline area codes (for example, Hanoi will change from 4 to 24, Hai Phong from 31 to 225; Thai Nguyen from 280 to 208, Tuyen Quang from 27 to 207...)

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This afternoon, January 7, the Ministry of Information and Communications officially announced this issue.

According to this announcement, the issuance of the telecommunications numbering plan aims to: “Reasonable planning ensures the economical and effective use of the numbering plan, promoting sustainable development of the telecommunications market; planning is consistent with Vietnam's reality and international practices, international organizations that Vietnam has signed; ensuring fairness and transparency for businesses and service users; minimizing negative impacts that may arise on businesses and service users.”

To achieve this goal, the new plan has a number of changes, specifically re-planning the prefix numbers used for area codes and network codes; re-planning area codes; re-planning mobile network codes; adding codes and numbers used for new services and removing codes and numbers for services that are no longer in use.

Regarding the issue of re-planning area codes, the current reality is that the area code length is 1, 2 or 3 digits, and the subscriber length is 7 or 8 digits.

Specifically, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have 1-digit area code; 37 provinces and cities have 2-digit area codes and 24 provinces/cities have 3-digit area codes. Regarding the length of landline phone numbers, 2 cities (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) have 8-digit area codes; 61 provinces/cities have 7-digit area codes.

“This leads to inconsistent dialing length when making long-distance domestic calls or calls from mobile networks to landline subscribers. Depending on the province or city, the dialing length is 10 or 11 digits including the country prefix '0'.

The lack of uniformity in dialing length leads to confusion and difficulty for service users to remember,” the announcement of the Ministry of Information and Communications emphasized.

Therefore, the new planning has solved this problem by planning the area code length to be 2 or 3 digits, the length of the landline subscriber number remains 7 or 8 digits depending on the specific numbering area.

Accordingly, in terms of area code length, 2 cities (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) have 2 digits; 61 provinces/cities have 3 digits. The length of landline subscriber numbers remains the same as at present. Thus, the dialing length when making long-distance calls within the country or calling from mobile networks to landline subscribers is consistent nationwide, all are 11 digits including the country prefix '0.'

Regarding mobile network codes, currently, the length of the network code in use is 2 (9x prefix) and 3 (1xx prefix) digits, the length of the mobile phone subscriber number is 7 digits. This leads to inconsistent dialing length when calling mobile phone subscribers, depending on the network code, the dialing length is 10 or 11 digits including the country prefix '0.'

In the new plan, the length of the mobile network code is 2 digits, the length of the mobile phone subscriber number remains the same. Thus, the dialing length when calling to a mobile phone subscriber is consistent for all telecommunications businesses and service users, all are 10 digits including the national prefix '0.'./.

According to Vietnam+