telephone number A telephone number is the address of a Telecommunications, telecommunication endpoint, such as a telephone, in a telephone network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A telephone number typically consists of a Number, sequ ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

is a sequence of nine or ten digits dialed on a telephone to make a call on the Belgian telephone network. Belgium is under a full number dialing plan, meaning that the full national number must be dialed for all calls, while it retains the trunk code, '0', for all national dialling. Exception: Some "special services" use 3 or 4 digits with no area or trunk codes, e.g.: ''112'' and ''100'' (fire brigade and ambulance); ''101'' (police); ''1307'' (info in French) or ''1207'' (info in Dutch), etc. " 112" is an emergency number for contacting the fire brigade, ambulance and police in all 27 countries of the European Union. Operators will help the caller in the country's native language, in English, or the language of any neighbouring country. Calls to this number for contacting the police are forwarded to "101", losing response time. The

telephone numbering plan A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reach ...

allows for numbers have varying lengths (9 digits for

landline A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

numbers, and 10 digits for mobile numbers).

Overview and structure

Area codes A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reach ...

in Belgium are, excluding the leading '0', one or two digits long. Numbers are of variable length; landlines have a seven-digit subscriber number and a one-digit area code for large cities, while smaller cities have a six-digit subscriber number and a two-digit area code. All Belgian telephone numbers dialed within Belgium must use the leading '0' trunk code. Area codes are separated from the subscriber number by a slash and a space, and subscriber number digits are in the format ''xxx xx xx'' or ''xx xx xx'' (sometimes ''xxx xxx''), depending on the length of the area code ;Examples: ''0x xxx xx xx'' - dialing a big city, such as

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

and

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

. ''0xx xx xx xx'' - dialing a small city, such as

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

, Mons,

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

, Aalst or

Verviers Verviers (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the cent ...

''04xx xx xx xx'' - dialing a mobile number from a landline or another mobile phone. Remark that Liège shares the trunk number 04 for landlines with the mobile numbers prefix 045, 046, 047, 048, or 049. But landlines in Liège do not start with those sequences. From outside Belgium, a caller dials their international call prefix (typically 00 in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and 011 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

), followed by 32 (the country code for Belgium), then the area code minus the trunk code '0', and finally the local number. Dialing from New York to Brussels ''011-32-2-555-12-12'' - Omitting the leading "0". Dialing from New York to Charleroi ''011-32-71-123-456'' - The subscriber number shortens with the addition of a number to the area code. Dialing from New York to a mobile number ''011-32-4''x''x-12-34-56'' - The dialer omits the leading "0". Mobile/GSM area codes always begin with ''04xx'' and the subscriber number is six digits long. Numbers are usually provided by Orange (formerly Mobistar), Base, or Proximus, and more recently by Telenet as well. Each provider has a unique number assigned as the second digit in the area code: Proximus numbers begin with ''047x'' or ''0460'', Base numbers with ''048x'', Orange numbers with ''049x'' and Telenet numbers with ''0467'' and ''0468''. With the introduction of number portability, both for landlines and mobile numbers, area codes may no longer correspond with their original providers or local switches.

Landlines

Landlines in Liège have numbers starting with 04, and so do mobile phones all over the country. But mobile numbers are 04xx xx xx xx – 10 digits in total – while Liège numbers are 04 xxx xx xx – 9 digits in total. Landlines in Liège also never starts with 04 6x, 04 7x, 04 8x or 04 9x.

Mobile numbers

Subscriber numbers may have been ported to another network, due to mobile number portability. On some mobile phones, the caller ID may fail unless the leading ''0'' is replaced with a ''+'' and the country code, i.e. a caller's number ''0474 12 34 56'' might need to be manually replaced to ''+32 474 12 34 56'' in your phone. More ranges have become available between 0440 and 0468. For the latest list refer to the BIPT reference.

Non-geographic numbers

* ''045x'' Premium numbers (€1.00/min). * ''070'': Premium pay rate services (€0.30/min.) * ''077'':

Machine to machine Machine to machine (M2M) is direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired communication, wired and wireless. Machine to machine communication can include industrial instrumentation, enabling a sensor or met ...

communication * ''078'': National pay rate services. * ''0800'': toll free €0.00 call rate services. * ''090x '' - Premium pay rate numbers*: ** 0900 (€0.50/min.). ** 0901 (€0.50/call). ** 0902 (€1.00/min.). ** 0903 (€1.50/min.). ** 0904 (€2.00/min.). ** 0905 (€2.00/call). ** 0906 (€1.00/min.). ** 0907 (€2.00/min.). ** 0909 (€31.00/call). Number format: ''07x/xxx.xxx'' ''0800/xx.xxx'' ''090x/xx.xxx''

References

External links

Obtain the operator serving a dial number
*, DCCL, last updated 1 August 1999 *
Belgian Institute for Postal services and Telecommunication
{{Telephone numbers in Europe

Telephone numbers Telecommunications in Belgium