The

ITU-T The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is one of the three sectors (divisions or units) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is responsible for coordinating standards for telecommunications and Information Co ...

Recommendation

E.212 The international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) is a number that uniquely identifies every user of a cellular network. It is stored as a field and is sent by the mobile device to the network. It is also used for acquiring other details of th ...

defines mobile country codes (MCC) as well as mobile network codes (MNC).

Overview

The mobile country code consists of three decimal digits and the mobile network code consists of two or three decimal digits (for example: MNC of 001 is not the same as MNC of 01). The first digit of the mobile country code identifies the geographic region as follows (the digits 1 and 8 are not used): * 0: Test networks * 2:

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

* 3: North America and the Caribbean * 4:

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

* 5: Australia and Oceania * 6:

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

* 7: South and Central America * 9: Worldwide (

Satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

, Air—aboard aircraft, Maritime—aboard ships,

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

) An MCC is used in combination with an MNC (a combination known as an "MCC/MNC tuple") to uniquely identify a mobile network operator (carrier) using the

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

(including

GSM-R GSM-R, Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway or GSM-Railway is an international wireless communications standard for railway communication and applications. A sub-system of European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), it is u ...

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...

, LTE, and 5G

public land mobile network In telecommunication, a public land mobile network (PLMN) is a combination of wireless communication services offered by a specific operator in a specific country.3GPP TS 21.905 https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_tr/121900_121999/121905/15.00.00_6 ...

s. Some but not all

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

iDEN Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) is a mobile telecommunications technology, developed by Motorola, which provides its users the benefits of a trunked radio and a cellular telephone. It was called the first mobile social network by m ...

, and

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

mobile networks are identified with an MCC/MNC tuple as well. For

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) options. The WiMAX ...

networks, a globally unique Broadband Operator ID can be derived from the MCC/MNC tuple.

TETRA Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA; formerly known as Trans-European Trunked Radio), a European standard for a trunked radio system, is a professional mobile radio and two-way transceiver specification. TETRA was specifically designed for use by ...

networks use the mobile country code from ITU-T Recommendation E.212 together with a 10-bit binary mobile network code. However, a TETRA network may be assigned an E.212 network code as well. Some network operators do not have their own

radio access network A radio access network (RAN) is part of a mobile telecommunication system. It implements a radio access technology. Conceptually, it resides between a device such as a mobile phone, a computer, or any remotely controlled machine and provides co ...

at all. These are called

mobile virtual network operator A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...

s (MVNO) and are marked in the tables as such. Note that MVNOs without their own MCC/MNC (that is, they share the MCC/MNC of their host network) are not listed here. The following tables attempt to provide a complete list of mobile network operators. Country information, including

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of ...

country codes is provided for completeness. Mostly for historical reasons, one E.212 MCC may correspond to multiple ISO country codes (e.g., MCC 362 corresponds to BQ, CW, and SX). Some operators also choose to use an MCC outside the geographic area that it was assigned to (e.g. Digicel uses the Jamaica MCC throughout the Caribbean).

updates an official list of mobile network codes in its Operational Bulletins which are published twice a month. ITU-T also publishes complete lists: as of January 2019 list issued on 15 December 2018 was current, having all MCC/MNC before 15 December 2018. Unfortunately, the official list is often incomplete as national MNC authorities do not forward changes to the ITU in a timely manner. The official list does not provide additional details such as bands and technologies and may not list disputed territories such as

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...

Test networks

National operators

International operators

British Indian Ocean Territory The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 ...
(United Kingdom) – IO

References

External links

International Telecommunication 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 Unio ...

list of MNCs
Mobile Network Codes (MNC) for the international identification plan for public networks and subscriptions (According to Recommendation ITU-T E.212 (05/2008)) (Position on 15 December 2018)

GSMA - Network Coverage Maps
GSM Association member and roaming information
MCC-MNC.net - Search Mobile Country Codes (MCC) and Mobile Network Codes (MNC)
Complete, searchable list of global MCC and MNC codes
PrePaidGSM.net - Up to date information on GSM mobile prepaid cards offered
including MCC/MNC information
Numberingplans.com
International Numbering Plans

{{Telecommunications GSM standard Lists by country Telecommunications lists Country codes Lists of country codes