Colombian telephone numbering plan

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Colombia has various telephone dial plans, depending on the type of service.

The dial plan for conventional landline numbers by origin of call is the following:

 nxx xxxx locally ("n" ranges 2-8. The number 9 is reserved for pay phones)
 0ab nxx xxxx domestic long distance
 +57 b nxx xxxx international long distance

The letter "a" represents the 3 national long-distance carriers.

 5 Orbitel
 7 ETB 
 9 Telecom (the government-owned long-distance carrier)

The letter "b" represents the dialing zones in which the country is divided. No department lies under 2 dialing zones, to make zoning more straightforward. Number 3 was formerly used in current zone 2, but was later reclaimed for mobile services.

 1 Bogotá and Cundinamarca
 2 Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Nariño
 4 Antioquia, Chocó and Córdoba
 5 Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, La Guajira, Magdalena and Sucre
 6 Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío
 7 Santander, Norte de Santander and Arauca
 8 Boyacá, Tolima, Huila, San Andrés, Meta, Caquetá and 
 the Amazon and Orinoco departments (Casanare, Vichada, Guainía,
 Vaupés, Guaviare, Amazonas and Putumayo)

For international dialing, subscribers must dial 00, then a digit assigned to one of the above mentioned long distance carriers. To place a call to St. Louis, Missouri, in the US, a subscriber would dial:

 00a 1 314 xxx xxxx

Mobile services

The dialing plan for mobile phones by origin of call is the following

 mmm xxx xxxx from any mobile phone 
 03 mmm xxx xxxx from any landline phone
 +57 mmm xxx xxxx from outside Colombia

The number "mmm" represent the access code for each mobile phone operator in the country:

 300, 301, 302 Colombia Móvil (under the commercial name OLA)
 310, 311, 312 Comcel
 315, 316 Movistar (formerly BellSouth)

To dial a landline phone from a mobile phone, the following procedure is used:

 03b nxx xxxx, where "b" corresponds to the dialing zone in  
which the landline phone is located

To dial a foreign phone number from a mobile phone in Colombia, the same procedure intended for landline phones is used. Calls will be billed to the mobile phone user, but the carrier's name will appear in a special line in the statement.

Toll-free services

To dial toll-free services, the following dialing system is used:

 01 800 xxx xxxx

Before 2002, the format used to be 9800 xxxxxx. When the current format was implemented in early 2002, existing toll-free numbers were given the format 01 800 0xx xxxx. But in advertising the numbers were regrouped 01 8000 xxxxxx, so many people erroneously think the general format for toll free is " 01 8000".

Other special services

Fee-based services.