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Telephone numbers in the Philippines

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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).

Telephone numbers in Philippines
Fixed-line area codes
Location
CountryPhilippines
ContinentAsia
Typeopen
NSN length9 digits (landline)
10 digits (mobile)
Format0XX-XXX-YYYY
02-XXXX-YYYY (for area code "02" only)
09XX-XXX-YYYY (mobile phones)
Access codes
Country code+63
International access00
Long-distance0

The Philippines is assigned an international dialing code of +63 by ITU-T. Telephone numbers are fixed at eight digits for area code 02, and seven digits for area codes from 03X to 09X, 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

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Philippine area codes for fixed-line or landline telephones are fixed at two digits, excluding Metro Manila, the province of Rizal and the cities of Bacoor in Cavite and San Pedro in 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 favor of the standard two-digit area codes.

Occasionally, a particular area may change area codes. For example, the city of Bacoor in Cavite was included in the geographical coverage area of area code 2 per the National Telecommunications Commission's Memorandum Order No. 08-09-2011. However, almost all fixed lines in the city still use the 46 area code being used across the rest of Cavite 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. Nevertheless, Barangay Molino VII (Sitio Gawaran) and Sitio Malipay in Barangay Molino IV now use area code 2.

Sometimes area codes are shared by several local government entities to maximize their use. Some area codes are shared by multiple provinces, as is the case for former sub-provinces like Guimaras and Iloilo; divided 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. 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 dialed within a given area code do not require the area code, excluding calls made from mobile phones or payphones. When dialing other area codes, the domestic long-distance access prefix 0 is added, but when dialing 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 cities of Bacoor and San Pedro: 8123-4567
  • Outside Metro Manila, Rizal, and cities of Bacoor and San Pedro: 02-8123-4567
  • Overseas calls: +63-2-8123-4567

Since October 6, 2019, all telephone numbers with the area code 2 were migrated to eight digits, as mandated by the National Telecommunications Commission's Memorandum Order No. 10-10-2017, due to insufficient assignable local exchange codes. The maintenance for this migration from 7-digit (XXX-YYYY) to 8-digit numbers (PXXX-YYYY) occurred from 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. PHT, causing a five-hour disconnection. This affected subscription-based virtual numbers (i.e. Globe Duo), SIM card-based Telephone Service (i.e. PLDT Landline Plus Prepaid), #MyNumber (the format is #XXXXX, i.e. #87000 for Jollibee Delivery), FEX Lines, SIP Trunks, ISDN and vanity numbers, including virtual numbers like short-digit numbers (e.g., *1888 for PLDT Telephone Support, 211 for Globe Prepaid Help and Support), Toll Free (domestic, international and universal, i.e. 1-800-1-123-4567, in dialing, 00-800-1-123-4567) and Premium numbers such as embassy hotline and 1900 service hotline.[1]

Since October 6, 2019, 5:00 a.m. PHT, the following telephone number format to be followed:

  • PXXX-YYYY where P is for Public Telecommunication Entity, and the XXX-YYYY is the telephone number.

NTC has assigned the following Public Telecommunications Entity (PTE) identifiers:[2][3]

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:[4]

Area 2 – National Capital Region, Rizal and Surroundings

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Area 3 – Western and Central Visayas

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Area 4 – Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog

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Area 5 – Bicol and Eastern Visayas

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Area 6 – Western and Central Mindanao (Zamboanga Peninsula, Bangsamoro and Northern Soccsksargen)

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

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

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List of fixed-line area codes

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Mobile phone area codes

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Mobile area codes are three digits long and always start with the number 9, although 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 dialing format is always observed when using a mobile phone. Therefore, mobile phone numbers always have the format "+63 912 345 6789" for international callers and "0 912 345 6789" for domestic callers.[citation needed]

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. 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 is exhausted, but this might not be the case if the next code is already in use. Starting October 21, 2020, Sun's prepaid service was merged and rebranded into Smart Prepaid, leaving its postpaid service under "Sun" branding.[5] Beginning March 2021, Dito Telecommunity launched new mobile number prefixes: 895, 896, 897, 898, 991, 992, 993 and 994, assigned to Dito Prepaid, Dito Postpaid and Dito WiFi Prepaid.[citation needed]

On April 11, 2022, PLDT and Smart announced the merger of Sun's postpaid service with Smart Postpaid, retiring all Sun Postpaid plans by April 25, 2022. Potential subscribers were encouraged to opt for Smart Signature plans, while existing Sun subscribers could continue with their plans or upgrade. The Sun Cellular brand was phased out in favor of the Smart brand.[citation needed]

In May 2023, Globe Telecom maintained its mobile number prefixes: 954 for Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi, 953 for TM, and 976 for GOMO!. That same month, Smart Communications introduced the 962 prefix for Smart (Prepaid, Postpaid, and Bro Prepaid), while keeping the prefixes 981 and 985 for TNT, and 964 for Smart Bro Home WiFi Prepaid (formerly PLDT Home WiFi Prepaid) and TNT.[citation needed]

Area codes are grouped by the provider with no single contiguous block of codes for a single provider. The companies and their respective area codes are listed below:[citation needed]

† - Inactive     ‡ - Defunct     List updated as of May 2024.[6][7][8][9]
D Dito Telecommunity G Globe Telecom, Globe at Home, TM, GOMO! S Smart Communications, PLDT Home, TNT
First 2
digits		 Third digit
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
81 S G
89 D D D D
90 G G S S S
91 S S G G G S S
92 S S S S S G G G S S
93 S S S S S G G G S S
94 S S S S S G S S S S
95 S S G G G G G G S S
96 S S S S S G G G S S
97 S G G S S G G G G G
98 G S S G S S G G S G
99 D D D D G G G S S

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Update to 8". PLDT. Archived from the original on 2019-10-05. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  2. ^ "Eight-Digit Number Format for Landlines and Virtual Numbers". Globe. Archived from the original on 2019-06-20. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  3. ^ "NTC Memorandum Order 10-10-2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-09-17. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  4. ^ "Area Codes in [Philippine Region]", The Print Yellow Pages in [Philippine Region], Directories Philippines Corporation, retrieved 2020-02-29
  5. ^ "Smart Completes Rebranding of Sun Prepaid to Smart Prepaid". ABS-CBN News. October 21, 2020. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
  6. ^ Siñel, Caroline (February 4, 2011). "List of Mobile Number Prefixes in the Philippines". TxtBuff News. Archived from the original on 2019-02-15. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  7. ^ "2023 Complete List of Philippine Mobile Network Prefixes". Prefix PH. January 1, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  8. ^ "Philippine Cell Phone Prefix Access Codes". Filipination.com. Archived from the original on 2019-02-15. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  9. ^ "List of Globe prefixes in the Philippines". Aide Libon. Retrieved 2024-05-01. "List of prefixes for Smart and PLDT in the Philippines". Aide Libon. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
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