Australia Phones

The Australian telephone numbering plan describes the allocation of phone numbers in Australia. It has changed many times,the most recent major reorganisation by the Australian Communications Authority taking place between 1994 and 1998.

Australia is divided geographically into four large area codes,some of which cover more than one state and territory. The standard telephone number in Australia (which within the telecommunications industry is referred to as a FNN - Full National Number) has ten digits,of which the first is '0'.

Fixed line telephone numbers in Australia consist of the area code (two digits,starting with '0'),and an eight-digit local number. The first four "local" digits generally specify the exchange,and the final four a line at that exchange.

Many exchanges,though,have several four-digit exchange codes - whereas in regional areas they use 5-digit exchange codes and 3-digit line numbers. Some very small exchanges can even have a 6-digit exchange code if there will never be more than 100 lines on that exchange.

Mobile phone numbers begin with 04,followed by eight digits. e.g. 04yy yxx xxx . The y -digit codes are allocated per network,although with the introduction of number portability,there is no longer a fixed relationship between the mobile phone number and the network it uses. New numbers are still allocated to phone companies in blocks,so a new number will generally still be on its "home" network.

Country Code: 61

The following is the numbering plan in domestic format. The area codes do not exactly match political territories. Notably the part of NSW around Broken Hill (a large part of the state's area but less than 1% of its population),which uses (08) 80xx numbers; and Wodonga,which is in Victoria but uses the 02 prefix.

Landlines use an open dialing plan : if the caller's phone shares the same area prefix as the receiver,the prefix may be omitted. For example a call from the number (02) 5551 5678,to the number (02) 7010 1111,will get through if the caller only dials 7010 1111 . Similarly,a person who dials 7010 5678 on a landline or mobile phone in Melbourne (i.e.,within the 03 area) will be connected to 03 7010 5678 . For this reason,landline numbers are often given out without the area prefix. If your number and the destination number share the same area code,then the area code is not required,even if it isn't a "local" call.

Mobile numbers must always be dialled as complete 10 digits,no matter where they are being called from. 04 is a prefix,not an "area code",as such.

Internationally the first 0 is replaced by the country code (e.g. +61 2 ... for NSW or +61 4... for a mobile number). Some numbers beginning with a 1 may be dialled without any replacement. (see below) There has been careful planning to avoid clashing with 01x numbers in this case.

End-user numbers are 10 digits long,conventionally written in the form (0x) xxxx xxxx for geographic and 04xx xxx xxx for mobile numbers. If the number is written where it may be viewed by an international audience (e.g. on an email signature or website) then the number is often written as +61 x xxxx xxxx or +61 4xx xxx xxx respectively (the initial 0 is not used for calls from overseas).

Geographic numbers (02,03,07,08)

Geographical areas are identified by the first few digits of the local number:

Sydney

Melbourne

Brisbane

Adelaide

Perth

Mobile phone numbers (04)

Generally the following numbers apply for the following mobile companies:

Telstra Corporation Ltd 0400,0407-0409,0417-0419,0427-0429,04303-04305,0434,0437-0439,0447-0448,0457,0458,04590-04592

Optus Mobile Pty Ltd 0401-0403,0411-0413,0421-0423,04301,0431-0432,04350

Vodafone Network Pty Ltd 0404-0406,0410,0414-0416,0420,0435 (except 04350),0449-0451,0424

Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Pty Ltd (trading as 'Three') 0424-0425,04300,04302,0433

Virgin Mobile (Australia) Pty Ltd 0466 (Note: Virgin utilises the Optus mobile network,and as such,other mobile operators (Such as Exetel) may also receive numbers in this range)

Student Administration Pty Ltd 0488

Currently unassigned 0426,04306-04309,0440-0446,045 (except 0450 and 0458),046 (except 0466),047,048 (except 0488),049

However mobile number portability means an individual number might have been " ported". There are also many resellers,and many companies buy "air time" from other companies for roaming.

Personal numbers (05)

Other non-geographic numbers (00,1)

The following codes are not generally dialable from international points,but used in domestic dialling:

The main international prefix is0011 (there are others for special purposes,such as0018,for charging in half-hour blocks,0015,for fax traffic,and0014,for discounted rates). However,carrier selection codes (14xx) are now also used,and carrier pre-selection is widely used.

000 is the primary emergency telephone number in Australia. Secondary emergency numbers are 106 (for use by the hearing impaired with a TTY terminal) and the international GSM mobile emergency telephone number 112 .

Increased awareness of the 112 emergency number in Australia has led to the potential for confusion over which number to call in an emergency. As a secondary emergency number,112 is not guaranteed to work from all technologies; most notably,it does not work from land lines. ^{In order to encourage use of 000, mobile telephones imported commercially into Australia are required to be programmed to treat 000 in the same fashion as 112 (i.e. dialling with key lock enabled,use of any carrier,preferential routing,etc.) ]}. On older or privately imported (e.g. roaming from another country) telephones,000 may not receive such preferential treatment.

A proposed amendment to the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 would prevent carriers from providing emergency services access to SIM-less devices,i.e. mobile telephones that do not have a SIM installed.

Australia uses the free call prefix 1800 . This is copied from the North American or NANPA prefix 1-800,but while in North America,the 1 is the long-distance or toll prefix and 800 is the area code,1800 in Australia is itself a "virtual area code" (prior to the introduction of 8-digit numbers,the free call code was 008 ).

The 13 and 1300 numbers are known as Local Rate Numbers or SmartNumbers. These work across large areas (potentially the whole of Australia) and only charge a local call,routing the call to the appropriate place in a given area. For example,a company could have the number 139999 and have the telephone company set it up so that calls made in Melbourne would route to their Melbourne number,calls made in Brisbane to their Brisbane number,and calls made anywhere else in Australia route to their Sydney number,all at a local charge cost to the caller. 13 numbers were not available before the introduction of the new numbering plan. Businesses looking for local callers tend to connect a "1300".

1800,1300 and 13 numbers are reverse charge networks. There is no real difference between a 13 number and a 1300 number other than the length of the number. The difference between a 13 number and an 1800 number is that a 13 number attracts a local call connect fee (around 25c). A call to an 1800 is free (no fee to the caller if using a landline phone; mobile users are usually charged at standard rates). These numbers "forward" to a geographic or mobile number. When a 13 number is called by a user in the same local call area there is no cost to the recipient for the first few minutes. The recipient is usually charged at a set rate per minute for each call,depending on plan and destination.

Similarly,190x (not to be confused with 0198,described below) is the code for premium rate services (e.g. recorded information,competition lines,psychics,phone sex,etc.). (Prior to the introduction of 8-digit numbers,the area code was 0055 .) 190 numbers incur a rate as charged by the provider - either at a per-minute rate (limited at $5.50 per minute) or a fixed rate (up to $38.50 per call). The latter method is most often used for fax-back services,where a timed charge is not appropriate. Costs of 190 calls for competitions involving chance are also often limited by state legislation to $0.55 per call. (In the previous numbering plan,0055 numbers were limited to three bands: Premium Rate,Value Rate and Budget Rate,with per minute rates of $0.75,$0.60 and $0.40 respectively.)

Other numbers beginning with 19 are used for premium-rate SMS services. These were originally trialled using the 188 prefix. These can actually range from a standard SMS cost (usually 25c),up to 55c for competition use,to several dollars for other uses,such as unique bid auctions.

All calls to 0198 numbers are a "local call" cost like 13 and 1300 numbers but are used for internet service provider access numbers. They are used both with dial up modems and ISDN.

01471 xxxxx numbers are predominantly used for satellite phone services. The 01471 prefix is the 10 digit replacement for the previous,9 digit ITERRA satellite phone code '0071 xxxxx'. Prior to its use for ITERRA (and other satellite services),the '014' prefix had been used as a 9 digit,AMPS mobile phone access code.

0145xxxxxx numbers are used for satellite phone services utilised on the Optus network in Australia. This is predominantly used for MobileSat and Thuraya mobile satellite services.

These codes are only true for Telstra-infrastructure based landline phones

Test numbers

Provider override codes

These numbers would be dialled before the 001x code to be billed by a provider other than your normal biller.