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Direct telephone connections between
Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...
and Spain were severed in 1969, when land communications between both territories were halted by the Spanish leader
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...
, and were not restored until 1986. However, Gibraltar experienced restrictions after that date causing problems with its telecommunications system, as a direct result of the Spanish sovereignty claim. Until 10 February 2007, Spain continued to impose restrictions on Gibraltar's ability to expand and modernise its telecommunications infrastructure. These included a refusal to recognise Gibraltar's International Direct Dialling (IDD) code (+350) which restricted the expansion of the Gibraltar telephone numbering plan, and the prevention of roaming arrangements for Gibraltar
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 ...
mobile phones in Spain and vice versa. Following the signing of the Córdoba Accord between the Governments of Gibraltar, 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 ...
and
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
in September 2006, these restrictions were removed with effect from 10 February 2007.


History of the dispute


International calls to Gibraltar

With the introduction of International Direct Dialling in the 1970s, Gibraltar was allocated its own IDD code, +350, by the
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 ...
(ITU), which was accessible from any telephone network outside Spain. However, although physical connectivity existed between Gibraltar and Spain, the Spanish government prohibited its national operators from recognising this code. When direct dialling from Spain was introduced, Gibraltar was treated as part of the Spanish telephone numbering plan, with callers from Spain having to dial ''956'' (the area code for the adjacent
province of Cádiz Cádiz is a province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the southernmost part of mainland Spain, as well as the southernmost part of continental Europe. It is bordered by the Spanish provin ...
) followed by the digit ''7'', and the subscriber's five digit landline number in Gibraltar, which could only begin with the digits ''4'', ''5'' or ''7''. Consequently, only 30,000 numbers available in Gibraltar could be dialled directly from Spain. With a population of approximately 28,000, this caused a shortage of new numbers that could be allocated to new telecom operators, thereby preventing
deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
of the industry as required by the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
. This also affected international calls from the rest of the world, because carriers using
least-cost routing In voice telecommunications, least-cost routing (LCR) is the process of selecting the path of outbound communications traffic based on cost. Within a telecoms carrier, an LCR team might periodically (monthly, weekly or even daily) choose between ro ...
, especially in the United States, routed calls to Gibraltar via Spain, which prevented calls dialled using the +350 code from terminating in Gibraltar. Consequently, the caller would hear a recorded announcement saying that the number dialled did not exist. Even when calls routed via Spain were allowed to terminate in Gibraltar, under the 'sender keeps all' arrangement,
Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
in Spain was able to keep revenue from these calls, instead of paying Gibtelecom's international termination charges. Although all other countries and territories recognised the +350 dialling code, not all networks blocked calls to Gibraltar from being made using Spain's +34 9567 code, which allowed subscribers to call Gibraltar for the cost of a call to Spain. Owing to the demand for mobile phones, Gibraltar introduced new number ranges consisting of eight digits, but these could not be dialled directly from Spain. For example, Gibtelecom's pre-paid services consisted of eight digit numbers with the prefix ''540'', but when using the ''9567'' prefix from Spain, the last three digits were not recognised, and callers were required to re-enter the eight digit number, during which time they were being charged. However, if the number were dialled from the rest of the world using the +350 code, the call would be terminated in Gibraltar without any problem. On 16 November 2001, Spain offered to allocate 70,000 numbers to Gibraltar. However, Gibraltar refused the offer, citing that it would mean giving Spain control of its numbering policy.


GSM roaming

Gibraltar's only
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 ...
operator, Gibtelecom, was prevented from establishing
roaming Roaming is a wireless telecommunication term typically used with mobile devices, such as mobile phones. It refers to a mobile phone being used outside the range of its native network and connecting to another available cell network. Technical ...
agreements with Spanish operators. As a consequence, once
Gibtel Gibtelecom is the largest telecommunications provider in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Its headquarters is located on John Mackintosh Square. History The first telephones were introduced to Gibraltar in 1886 by a private company ...
GSM customers crossed into Spain and moved outside the area of coverage of their own base stations, they were unable to use their phones until they entered another Member State of the European Union or were within range of base stations in
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...
.


Resolution

Under the September 2006
accord Accord may refer to: Businesses and products * Honda Accord, a car manufactured by the Honda Motor Company * Accord (cigarette), a brand of Rothmans, Benson & Hedges * Accord (company), a former public services provider in south England * Accord H ...
in Córdoba between Gibraltar, Spain and the UK, a timetable was agreed to remove these restrictions. Spain recognised Gibraltar's international dialling code, thereby allowing Gibraltar to expand its telephone numbering plan, and allow Spanish mobile phone operators to enter into roaming arrangements with Gibtelecom. These measures came into force on 10 February 2007.International Dialing codes implemented
/ref> Following the removal of Spanish restrictions in 2007, all mobile telephone numbers in Gibraltar can be dialled in full from Spain, using the +350 international code. The Spanish numbering space allocated to Gibraltar has now been withdrawn from use, and will now only be used for numbers in Spain.


See also

*
Disputed status of Gibraltar Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory, located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, is the subject of a territorial claim by Spain. It was captured in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). The Spanish Cro ...


References

{{Gibraltar topics Communications in Gibraltar History of Gibraltar History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom International disputes International telecommunications Spain–United Kingdom relations