The area code 868 is assigned to

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

, a member of the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the international callin ...

(NANP). The

telephone numbering plan A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone number A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or ...

for the country is known as the National Numbering Plan. It is part of a system used for assigning

telephone numbers A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...

, and functions as a part of the

(NANP). It is regulated by the

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago is the organisation that regulates telecommunications and broadcasting services in Trinidad and Tobago. Its chairman is Mr. Gilbert Peterson. The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad an ...

, which holds responsibility for

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

in the country. Due to a long established affiliation with NANP, phone numbers in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago are often styled as "(868) NXX- xxxx". However, the

International Telecommunications Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union ...

's standards such as E.164 and

E.123 E.123 is an international standard by the standardization union (ITU-T), entitled ''Notation for national and international telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and Web addresses''. It provides guidelines for the presentation of telephone numbers, e ...

both strongly advocate the inclusion of a "+1" prefix to indicate "868" is a part of the NANP.

History

Area code 868 ("TNT") was created during a split from the original

Area code 809 Area codes 809, 829, and 849 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Dominican Republic. As all NANP members, the Dominican Republic uses country code ''1'', and has similar dialing procedures for dialing the ...

with permissive dialing beginning 1 June 1997. With the end of permissive dialing on 31 May 1998, all calls placed to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago required the use of the +1 868 prefix.

Dialing to Trinidad and Tobago

*; From within North America (NANP) When calling Trinidad and Tobago from elsewhere in the North American Numbering Plan (e.g., from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

), callers dial as if undertaking regular

ten-digit dialing Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories that are members of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when dialing to initiate a telep ...

within those countries. Callers must simply dial 1 + 868 + seven digit

phone number A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...

. *; From outside NANP When calling to Trinidad and Tobago from outside the NANP (e.g., from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

), callers must dial their international dialing prefix followed by 1 to access the North American Numbering Plan. For example, a call placed from the United Kingdom would be dialled as 00 + 1 + 868 + local seven digit phone number.

Dialing within Trinidad and Tobago

When placing a

phone call A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the called party and the calling party. First telephone call The first telephone call was made on March 10, 1876, by Alexander Graham Bell. Bell demonstrated his ability to "talk ...

from Trinidad and Tobago, also known as HNPA (home numbering plan area) dialing, callers simply use

seven-digit dialing Seven-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure customary in some territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for dialing telephone numbers in the same numbering plan area (NPA). NANP telephone numbers consist of ten digits, of wh ...

(i.e. dialing the last seven digits of the phone number). *;To North America (NANP) When calling other places in the North American Numbering Plan, callers dial as if undertaking regular

in those countries. Callers dial 1 + NPA area code + seven digit

. Though usually toll-free when dialed from the US, not all 1-800 phone numbers are toll-free when dialed from Trinidad and Tobago, and may be treated as a toll call. *;To areas outside the NANP When calling to areas outside the NANP (e.g., the

), callers dial 011 +

country calling code Country calling codes or country dial-in codes are telephone number prefixes for reaching telephone subscribers in the networks of the member countries or regions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The codes are defined by the ...

+ phone number. In the case of the UK, a user would dial 011 + 44 + UK phone number.

General

:National Operations Centre: 911, Police Force: 999, Ambulance: 811, Fire: 990 :Information/Directory Assistance: 6411, 611 (proposed replacement) :Operator: 0

Notes

References

External links

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and TobagoNorth American Numbering Plan Administrator
{{DEFAULTSORT:Area Code 868

868 __NOTOC__ Year 868 ( DCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman cale ...

Communications in Trinidad and Tobago