Telephone numbers in Romania

Country Code: 40
International Call Prefix: 00

In the last years, landline usage started to drop within Romania, as the mobile phones market was growing fast. Mobile phone companies were running out of numbers, as both the main mobile companies claimed million after million of subscribers. Also, due to approaching EU join, the state-owned company was going to lose the landline monopoly. A 2002 reform modified the system to a 10 digits system, of which the first is always a national access code "0". The first 4 digits, including the leading "0", give the area code, in the format 0ZYX, where X, Y are digits from 0 to 9 and Z is a digit from 2 to 9. The geographic area codes for Bucharest are 0Z1, with a digit less than all the other area codes and an extra digit to the local number. For example, the Romtelecom area code for Bucharest is "021-xxx-xxxx", and for Neamţ County is "0233-xxx-xxx".

The Z digit gives the type of the area code:

*Z="2" and "3" means a landline number; the YX code is "1" (with extra digit for local number) for Bucharest, from "30" to "69" for a county code, and "70" to "79" for non-geographic landline numbers;
*Z=7 (and possibly 6 in the future) means a mobile number; "070p-xxxxxx " numbers are reserved for virtual operators, while "071p-xxxxxx" to "079p-xxxxxx" are reserved for certain mobile company code
*Z=8 means either a toll-free ("0800-xxxxxx"), shared cost, personal numbering, virtual cards, pre-paid cards, or internet dial-up numbers
*Z=9 means a premium-rate number, like "0900-xxx-xxx"; business and financial information and service use "0903-xxx-xxx" and adult entertainment use "0906-xxx-xxx"

Most new landline companies, like UPC Romania (formerly Astral) or Romania Data Systems (RDS), were granted new area codes with Z=3, e.g. "031-xxx-xxxx" for Bucharest, and "03pp-xxx-xxx" for the rest of the country. Because these area codes are shared between more companies, the entire number must be dialed, even within the same network.

The numbers with Z=2, e.g. "021-xxx-xxxx" or "02pp-xxx-xxx", belong almost exclusively to Romtelecom. However, smaller companies were granted numbers with these area codes, like "021-59x-xxxx", and the local numbers are assigned in descending order of the first 3 digits, like (599xxxx, 598xxxx, ..., or 529xxxx, 528xxxx, ...). In Bucharest, local numbers starting with "5" were not used by Romtelecom, hence the usage of this digit. For other counties, if "5" had not been used by Romtelecom, it is preferred for the first digit of numbers of other companies. There are few companies requesting numbering resources with Z=2, and in most cases the companies provide local service only and do not extend their network in the whole country.

Formerly within Romtelecom, local numbers were always dialed without area codes, but other numbers were always to be dialed with the area codes, even if it was the same one. Hovever this was changed beginning with 3 May 2008: from that date Romtelecom subscribers can dial full 10 digit numbers for local calls, and since 1 August 2008 they are "required" to dial the full 10 digit number.

The mobile companies use area codes starting with 7: "72" and "73" for Vodafone Romania (previously branded as Connex), "74" and "75" for Orange Romania (previously branded as Dialog), "76" for Cosmote Romania (previously branded as Cosmorom), "78" for Zapp Mobile, etc. RDS, starting their own mobile network, uses "77".

Free phone numbers start with "800" (like "0-800-xxx-xxx"). Strangely, some companies to whom a numbering class is allocated may not grant toll-free access to those numbers for other networks. Therefore, sometimes a "toll-free" number is advertised as "toll free only within "some" operator".

Some "08pp" codes are used for various services, like:
* "0801" for shared-cost numbers
* "0802" for personal numbering
* "0806" for virtual cards
* "0807" for pre-paid cards
* "087p" for Internet dial-up; for the moment, only "0870" is used

Extra-charge numbers start with "90p", with some service types with their own area codes, like business and financial information ("0903") and adult entertainment ("0906"). There are few used area codes in the "09pp" range, the rest of them are stated as reserved, unlike for the "08pp" range, which holds more service types, either toll-free or not.

The former extra-charge numbers were starting with "021-89-xxxxx" for Bucharest and "02pp-89x-xxx" for the other regions, thus being a subset of the numbers owned by Romtelecom. Currently these numbers are sometimes used for premium rate or normal Internet dial-up services. The usage of these numbers for such services is however discouraged, as the new area code for Internet dial-up is "0870". There are some dial-up services using these numbers, and most of them begin with (021- or 02pp-)"893" or "899".

Calling from Romania to Romania usually implies using the full 10 digits number. Romtelecom county codes were chosen on a geographical order, starting with northern Moldavia (Suceava County had "30"), then going southwards to eastern Wallachia, than westwards to southern Transylvania, than northwards, closing the circle with the highest prefix, "69" (used for Sibiu County). These county codes were extended to all landline area codes.

Extra-charge SMS are sent to three or four digits numbers, each company having its own system.

Short numbers are allowed in both the 3 digits and in 4 digits forms, with a leading "9", like "981" for the fire brigade, "961" for ambulance, "955" for police or "9xxx" for various companies, including taxi, medical services, guards, information and others. Each town or county has it own special services, like firefighters, police, with the same number. The station to which these calls are directed is chosen based on location. Unlike for Bucharest, other regions use short numbers with 3 digits only, including the leading "9". These services are provided by Romtelecom, therefore the area code must be dialed before the number when calling from other network.

The short local numbers which are the same in the whole country are:
* "02YX-922" Romtelecom devices service (for phones and other equipment bought or rented from Romtelecom), "021-9222" for Bucharest
* "02YX-925" Romtelecom GBM sales and customer support, "021-9255" for Bucharest
* "02YX-923" or "02YX-926" elevator service, "021-923(x)" or "021-926(x)" for more companies in Bucharest
* "02YX-928" former local gas company; new companies use other numbers; in Bucharest "021-928x" for more gas companies
* "02YX-929" electricity company; "021-9291" for Bucharest and "021-9292" for surrounding area
* "02YX-953" former state-owned taxi company; the privatised company still holds this number, "021-9531" for Bucharest
* "02YX-954" former state-owned freight taxi company; the privatised company still holds this number, "021-9541" for Bucharest
* "02YX-955" police, "021-9555" for Bucharest; allegedly no longer toll-free since the implementation of "112"
* "02YX-956" gendarmerie, "021-9566" for Bucharest; formerly a taxi company number in Bucharest
* "02YX-959" Border police, "021-9590" for Bucharest; (probably on counties along the country border or holding international airports)
* "02YX-961" state-owned ambulance and medical service "021-9611" for Bucharest; allegedly no longer toll-free since the implementation of "112"
* "971" international calls via operator (this Romtelecom service is an exception and keeps the original short format even after 1 August 2008)
* "02YX-981" fire brigade, "021-9811" for Bucharest; allegedly no longer toll-free since the implementation of "112"
* "991" domestic calls via operator, for reverse charge calls (this Romtelecom service is another exception and keeps the original short format even after 1 August 2008)Some short numbers are used for network services, for rotary telephones which cannot dial "*" and "#".

Romania joined the European initiative for a continent-wide emergency number, "112". With the implementation of this service, the former emergency numbers are no longer toll-free, unless they are redirected to 112.

Number portability is planned to be available after 21 October 2008.

Besides the "112" service, and the reserved "11x" numbers, a number may not begin with 1. There are some special codes which start with "1":
* "10xx" carrier selection, with intermediate tone
* "16xx" carrier selection, followed by number
* "19x(...)" nationwide short numbers (implemented since 2 May 2008)
** "1921" Romtelecom phone line service
** "1930" Romtelecom sales and customer support
** "1931" Romtelecom directory information
** "1932" Romtelecom directory information in Hungarian language
** "1951" Various information service
** "1957" telegrams
** "1958" current time announcement (from 10 to 10 seconds)

When calling from abroad, the leading zero is dropped and replaced with the international access code and the country code, like "+40-xxx-xxx-xxx". As usual, only regular landline and mobile phones are accessible from outside Romania.

Because Romania's international code is "40", some full numbers are sometimes wrongly advertised as +4 (or 004) followed by the national number, with the leading 0 included. The numbers are still valid, but sometimes even the "0" is dropped, so a call to a number written in this manner will fail. Those who do so mistakenly consider the international code as 4, and not 40. This mistake does not appear in media, but is sometimes observed on written phone numbers on vehicles, especially lorries or coaches.

When calling from Romania abroad, the international access code is "00". Also supported is "+" for the mobile devices.

A special code is used for calls to the Republic of Moldova. This code is "099", and the charges are lower than by calling using the "+373" country code.

External links

* [http://www.anrcti.ro Romanian Communications Authority (in Romanian and English)]
** ro icon [http://www.anrcti.ro/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=3073 The new short numbers]
* [http://www.romtelecom.ro/ro/pentru_clienti/numere_utile.html The new short numbers] , on Romtelecom's site