Telephone numbers in France : Ask Biography

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The French telephone numbering plan is not only used for metropolitan France but also for the French overseas departments and some overseas collectivities. October 25 1985, France changed to a "closed" telephone numbering plan, with the area code incorporated into the subscriber's eight-digit number. To call the rest of France from Paris, however, the prefix 16 had to be dialed before the eight-digit number, and to call Paris from the rest of France, the prefix 16 1 had to be dialed.

In 1996, this changed to a ten-digit numbering scheme:

* 01 Paris area (Île-de-France)

* 02 Northwest France

* 03 Northeast France

* 04 Southeast France

* 05 Southwest France

* 06 and 07 Mobile phone services

* 08 Freephone (numéro vert) and shared-cost services.

* 09 Non-geographic number (used by Voice over IP services, formerly 087 numbers)

The 09 prefix was introduced in September 2006 and older numbers such as 08 7X XX XX XX are replaced by 09 5X XX XX XX (telephone service offered by Internet Provider "Free").

All geographic numbers are dialed in the ten-digit format, even for local calls. The international access code also changed from 19 to the International Telecommunication Union's recommended 00, bringing France into in line with many other countries. Following liberalisation in 1998, subscribers could access different carriers by replacing the '0' (omitted from numbers when called from outside France) with another digit. For example, Cegetel required subscribers to dial '7', e.g.: Paris 71 xx xx xx xx, instead of 01 xx xx xx xx. Similarly, the international access code using Cegetel would be '70' instead of '00'.

When calling France from abroad, the leading zero should be omitted: to call a number in Southwest France, one would dial +33 5 xx xx xx xx.