The area code 670 is the telephone
area code in 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 calling ...
(NANP) for the U.S.
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonwea ...
(CNMI). It was created with the start of
permissive dialing
In North America, permissive dialing is the ability to make phone calls in an area subject to a newly introduced area code by using both the new and preexisting dialing methods.
When an area is given a new area code under a split plan, the area's ...
on July 1, 1997. With the end of permissive dialing on July 1, 1998, it replaced the previous
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 ...
country code
+670, which is now used by
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...
.
History
Although the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI) became a commonwealth in 1978 and the United States assumed sovereignty in 1986, calling between the CNMI and the rest of the United States remained an international call (011-670-xxx-xxxx). As international calling rates began to fall in the more competitive destination countries during the 1990s, it became a considerable financial burden for people calling between the U.S. Mainland and the CNMI.
After the CNMI was added to the North American Numbering Plan, the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) regulated calls to and from the CNMI as "domestic", hence dramatically lowering the cost of these telephone calls. This change also opened up national toll-free numbers to callers from the CNMI, which became very popular with the advent of pre-paid phone cards.
However, since no mobile telephone carriers in the U.S. are present in the CNMI market, cellular calls to the CNMI are not necessarily considered "domestic" or within the definition of "nationwide long distance".
Cost of international calls
FCC's regulation of the CNMI as "domestic" has no legal effect for telephone carriers outside the United States, for whom the CNMI is often not a competitive destination. Therefore, calls from other countries inbound to the CNMI can still be relatively expensive, especially compared to outbound calls from the CNMI since the CNMI has access to most U.S. toll-free numbers.
Dialing
Within the islands, only the seven-digit phone number is necessary. When a person in the islands calls anywhere in the United States or Canada, he or she simply dials 1 and then the area code and phone number. For callers in the U.S. or Canada calling to the islands, one first dials 1-670, followed by the 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 ...
.
See also
*
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 calling ...
External links
List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 670 Area Code
{{Coord, 15, 11, N, 145, 45, E, display=title
670
Communications in the Northern Mariana Islands
Telecommunications-related introductions in 1997