Telephone Numbers In The Philippines

Telephone numbers in the Philippines follow an open telephone numbering plan and an open dial plan. Both plans are regulated by the National Telecommunications Commission, an attached agency under the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

The Philippines is assigned an international dialing code of 63 by ITU-T. Telephone numbers are fixed at eight digits for area code 02, and seven digits for area codes from 03X to 09X, with area codes fixed at one, two, or three digits (a six-digit system was used until the mid-1990s; four to five digits were used in the countryside). Mobile phone numbers are always 10 digits (three digits for the service provider, plus a seven-digit number).

When making long-distance calls in the Philippines, the prefix 0 for domestic calls and 00 for international calls are used.

Fixed-line area codes

Philippine area codes for fixed-line or landline telephones are fixed at two digits, excluding Metro Manila, the province of Rizal and the cities of Bacoor in Cavite and San Pedro in Laguna, which use the area code 2. Some smaller carriers concentrated within a specific geographic area may issue four- or five-digit area codes, but these are being phased out in favor of the standard two-digit area codes.

Occasionally, a particular area may change area codes. For example, the City of Bacoor in Cavite has been included in the geographical coverage area of area code 2 per the National Telecommunications Commission's Memorandum Order No. 08-09-2011, although almost all fixed-lines in the city still use the old 46 area code due to the poor compliance of PLDT and Globe to the said memorandum order. PLDT's response to the memorandum order is the release of its "Call All Manila SIM", an exclusive wireless landline service for Bacoor residents, however, the Barangay Molino VII (Sitio Gawaran) and Sitio Malipay in Molino IV now use area code 2.

Sometimes area codes are shared by several local government entities to maximize their use. Some area codes are shared by multiple provinces, as is the case for former sub-provinces like Guimaras and Iloilo; newly carved provinces like Zamboanga Sibugay and Zamboanga del Sur; or provinces with small populations like Marinduque and Quezon. In extreme cases, area codes are shared across an island like in Leyte and Samar, or even entire regions, such as with the Cordillera Administrative Region. To identify the call's point of origin, the three-digit telephone exchange prefix is checked.

Since the Philippines employs an open dial plan, telephone numbers dialed within a given area code do not require the area code, excluding calls made from mobile phones or payphones. When dialing other area codes, the domestic long-distance access prefix 0 is added, but when dialing from overseas, the domestic prefix is not included. As such, a typical telephone number in Metro Manila and Rizal would look like this:

*Within Metro Manila, Rizal, and cities of Bacoor and San Pedro: 8123-4567
*Outside Metro Manila, Rizal, and cities of Bacoor and San Pedro: 02-8123-4567
*Overseas calls: [phone]

Since October 6, 2019, all telephone numbers under area 2 had been migrated to eight digits as mandated by the National Telecommunications Commission per Memorandum Order No. 10-10-2017 to address the insufficient number of assignable local exchange codes.

The maintenance for the migration from the usual 7-digit number (XXX-YYYY) to 8-digit (PXXX-YYYY) is from 12:00:00 AM to 05:00:00 AM.

It lasted five hours of disconnection on telephones and it will also affect subscription-based virtual telephone numbers (i.e. Globe Duo), SIM card-based Telephone Service (i.e. PLDT Landline Plus Prepaid), #MyNumber (The format is #XXXXX, i.e. #87000 for Jollibee Delivery), FEX Lines, SIP Trunks, ISDN and Vanity Numbers, Including virtual numbers like short-digit numbers (i.e. *1888, which is the PLDT Telephone Support, and 211, which is the Talk2Globe or the Globe Prepaid Help and Support), Toll Free (domestic, international and universal, i.e. 1-800-1-123-4567, in dialing, 00-800-1-123-4567) and Premium numbers such as embassy hotline and 1900 service hotline.

Since October 6, 2019, 5 AM, the following telephone number format to be followed:

*PXXX-YYYY where P is for Public Telecommunication Entity, and the XXX-YYYY is the telephone number.

NTC has assigned the following Public Telecommunications Entity (PTE) identifiers:

*3000-YYYY to 3499-YYYY: Bayan Telecommunications
*5300-YYYY to 5799-YYYY: Eastern Communications Philippines
*6000-YYYY to 6699-YYYY: ABS-CBN Convergence
*7XXX-YYYY: Globe Telecom / Innove Communications
*8XXX-YYYY: PLDT / Digital Telecommunications Philippines

Areas are grouped into seven broad areas determining the first digit of a given area code. These areas and their accompanying area codes are listed below:

Area 2 – National Capital Region, Rizal and Surroundings

*2: Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite (Bacoor), Laguna ( San Pedro)

Area 3 – Western and Central Visayas

*32: Cebu
*33: Iloilo, Guimaras
*34: Negros Occidental
*35: Negros Oriental, Siquijor
*36: Aklan, Antique, Capiz
*38: Bohol

Area 4 – Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog (Calabarzon and Mimaropa)

*42: Aurora, Marinduque, Quezon, Romblon
*43: Batangas, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro
*44: Bulacan, Nueva Ecija
*45: Pampanga, Tarlac
*46: Cavite (except Bacoor)
*47: Bataan, Zambales
*48: Palawan
*49: Laguna (except San Pedro)

Area 5 – Bicol Region and Eastern Visayas

*52: Albay