Telephone numbers in Taiwan explained

Country:Republic of China (Taiwan)
Country Link:Taiwan
Continent:Asia
Map Size:200px
Country Calling Code:+886
International Prefix:002, 005, 006, 007, 009
Trunk Prefix:0
Regulator:NCC
Dial Plan Type:open

Area codes

Source:[1]

The emergency numbers in Taiwan are 110 (police) and 119 (fire and ambulance services).

When making an inter-area long-distance call from within Taiwan, a long-distance prefix "0" is required. If calls are made from within the same area code, then the area code does not need to be included. Inter-area calls are defined as long-distance phone calls even when the two numbers have the same prefix.

If calls are made from outside Taiwan, the "0" of the area code prefix is omitted.

The following table of area codes includes this "0" prefix.

Prefix Area[2] Divisions DigitsNotes
Taipei 8 Numbers that start with 2,3 and 8 are assigned to Chunghwa Telecom (ILEC-the main operator), Number ranges that start with 4, 5, 6 and 7 are competitive fixed network operators, such as Taiwan Fixed Network (TFN), New Century InfoComm LTD (NCIC), and Asia Pacific Telecom (APT), as Chunghwa Telecom no longer holds a monopoly in this market area.
Taoyuan 7 starts with 2* (minor), 3 (Taoyuan District), 4* (Zhongli)Numbers start with ranges 21, 22, 28 are assigned to (CHT), Numbers start with 25 (APT), 26 (TFN), and 27 (NCIC) belong to competitive local operators.

All numbers starting with 3 belong to Chunghwa Telecom, as CHT holds a monopoly in Taoyuan District.

Numbers that start with 4 are assigned to Chunghwa Telecom except ranges 405 (APT), 406 (TFN), and 449 (NCIC).

Hsinchu 7 starts with 5 (major), 6* (minor)Numbers start with 6 are assigned to CHT except 60 (APT), 61 (TFN), 62 (NCIC).
Hualien 7 starts with 8*Number ranges that start with 800, 805, and 890 belong to APT, TFN, and NCIC respectively.

All other numbers that start with 8 are assigned to the dominant fixed-line operator (Chunghwa Telecom).

Yilan 7 starts with 9All number ranges are assigned to Chunghwa Telecom except numbers starting with 900 (APT), 905-906 (TFN), 910 (NCIC).
Miaoli 6 All numbers belong to Chunghwa Telecom except these numbers starting with:

24-TFN

28-APT

77-NCIC

Taichung 8 starts with 22-24 & 270 (urban area), 25 (Fengyuan, including Zhuolan, Miaoli), 26 (Dajia and Shalu), 3 (minor)- Note according to Chinese Wikipedia these numbers have been merged with several prefixes resulting in numbers assigned to be from one city code.

All numbers are with Chunghwa Telecom except the following ranges: (Competitive Local Operators)

3500-3509 APT3600-3611 TFN3700-3707 NCIC3900–3903,3920-3922 VeeTime Corp

Changhua 7 starts with 7 (Changhua City), 8 (Yuanlin) (CHT-Landlines) Except the following listed below.700-704 TFN

705-709 NCIC

800-804 APT

Nantou 7 starts with 2, (CHT landlines) including Fenyuan, Changhua, 5-7 (Competitive Local Operators)

500 APT

600 TFN

700 NCIC

Chiayi 7 starts with 2 (Chiayi City and Minxiong), 3 (Dongshi) Except ranges listed below.(Competitive Local Operators)

300 APT

310 TFN

320 NCIC

Yunlin 7 starts with 5 (Douliu), 6 (Huwei), 7 (Beigang) Except those ranges listed below: According to Chinese Wikipedia these prefixes could have been merged.(Competitive Local Operators)

700 TFN

750 APT

770 NCIC

Tainan 7 starts with 2 & 3 (urban area), 5 (Xinhua and Shanhua), 6 (Xinying), 7 (Jiali) All numbers belong to Chunghwa Telecom.Range exceptions:

(Competitive Local Operators)

510-513 APT

600-602 TFN

700-703 NCIC

Penghu 7 starts with 9 (CHT Landlines)Except ranges:

950 APT960 TFN970 NCIC

Kaohsiung 7 including Pratas Island and the Spratly Islands(Note: 070 prefix is used for VOIP phone services, these numbers are 8 digits instead of 7).

Except ranges listed as Competitive Local Operators:

860–862,96X TFN

95X APT

97X NCIC

All other ranges belong to Chunghwa Telecom.

Pingtung 7 starts with 7 (Pingtung City and Chaozhou), 8 (Donggang and Hengchun)(Competitive Local Operators)

800-801 APT

810 TFN

820-821 NCIC

Kinmen 6 mainly starts with 3 (CHT Landlines)Exceptions are local competitive operators that start with ranges

50X APT

70X NCIC

80X TFN

Wuqiu 5 starts with 6All numbers belong to Chunghwa Telecom in this area.
Matsu 5 starts with 2 (Nangan), 5(Beigan), 7 (Dongyin), 8 (Juguang) Chunghwa Telecom Landlines. Numbers start with 6 and 9 are competitive local operators.6 APT9 TFN
Taitung 6 Numbers belonging to Chunghwa Telecom except starting with:

61X TFN

71X NCIC

96X APT

Exceptional case

The 01 code was reserved for Nanjing, which was the capital of the Republic of China before its retreat to Taiwan.[3]

Mobile phones

Taiwan mobile phone numbers begin in three digits ranging 090~098 with a total length of 10 digits: 09X followed by 7 digits (e.g. 092 1234567). When calling a Taiwan landline phone number using a local Taiwan mobile phone, the 0 prefix for the area code must be included (e.g. area code with 0 prefix included + 8 digit landline number). When calling a Taiwan mobile phone number from outside of Taiwan, the 0 of 09X is omitted (e.g. +886 921234567).

Format: (09X)XXXXXXX

Mobile Phones with 090 range is mostly used for wireless data services (M2M).

Toll-free and premium rate

Toll-free numbers begin with the prefix 0800 and 0809.[4]

Numbers in the 020x prefix are used for value-added services:[5]

PrefixPurpose
0201Voting services
0203Bulk announcements
0204Premium rate numbers

International dialling

International dialling from Taiwan follows the following pattern: Carrier selection code – Country calling code – Area code (if required, usually for landlines) – Subscriber numberCarrier selection codes, which direct the call via one of several providers, are as follows:

Country calling code

The international dialling code for making calls to Taiwan, and the other islands is 886.

International dialling codes were assigned by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency of the United Nations, to its member states and their dependencies in the 1960s. Despite the Republic of China on Taiwan still being a member of the UN, and hence the ITU, other member states declared that "the only representatives of the people of China are the delegates to the ITU and its permanent organs appointed by the Central Government of the People's Republic of China".[6] This led to the People's Republic of China being assigned the country code 86.[7] Consequently, in the early 1970s, Taiwan had to be unofficially assigned a separate code, 886, although there was pressure from China to change this to 866.[8] This had to be listed as "reserved",[9] but in 2006, the code was formally allocated to "Taiwan, China".[10] [11]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The assignment of number prefixes by Fixed-Line telephone operators.(In Chinese language only).. National Communications Commission of Taiwan.
  2. http://www.cht.com.tw/personal/longdist-call.html Chunghwa Telecom
  3. https://www.xinmedia.com/article/111183 台灣冷知識!02台北、07高雄,你知道傳說中的01在哪裡嗎?
  4. Web site: Chunghwa Telecom . www.cht.com.tw. zh-tw. 2018-01-23. 2018-01-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20180124071427/http://www.cht.com.tw/en/enterprise/related/rp-0800-0.html. dead.
  5. Web site: Chunghwa Telecom . www.cht.com.tw. zh-tw. 2018-01-23. 2018-05-31. https://web.archive.org/web/20180531234745/http://www.cht.com.tw/en/enterprise/in-0201.html. dead.
  6. https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=%22the+people+of+China+are+the+delegates+to+the+I.T.U+and+its+permanent%22 White Book
  7. https://books.google.com/books?id=IcVjAAAAIAAJ&q=%22China%22 White Book
  8. https://books.google.com/books?id=QtEsAAAAMAAJ&q=%22dialing+code%22 Daily Report: People's Republic of China
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20030423122326/http://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/icc/e164_763.pdf List of ITU-T Recommendation E.164, Assigned Country Codes, (Position on 1 May 2002)
  10. https://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/ob-lists/icc/e164_763.pdf List of ITU-T Recommendation E.164, Assigned Country Codes, (Position on 1 May 2005)
  11. https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-OB.870-2006-OAS-PDF-E.pdf ITU Operational Bulletin