Telephone numbers in Germany

The regulation of telephone numbers in Germany is the responsibility of the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur, BNetzA) of the German government. The agency has a mandate to telecommunications in Germany and other infrastructure systems. Germany has an open telephone numbering plan. Before 2010, area codes and subscriber telephone numbers had no fixed size, meaning that some subscriber numbers may be as short as two digits. As a result, dialing sequences are generally of a variable length, except for some non-geographic area codes for which subscriber numbers use a fixed-length format. It is not possible to determine unambiguously the end of a phone number from a prefix or the digits already dialed. This feature allows the extension of the length of phone numbers without revoking or changing existing numbers. Mobile telephones are assigned to non-geographic codes, making them readily recognizable. A new numbering plan was introduced on 3 May 2010. Since then newly assigned landline telephone numbers have a standard length of eleven digits, including the area code. Area codes remained unchanged, variable in length. Exceptions to the eleven-digit rule are the four cities of Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Munich, which are the only cities with two-digit area codes and have ten-digit numbers to avoid exceeding the maximum length of eight digits for a subscriber number. The German telephone network uses 5,200 geographical area codes, the length of which varies from two to five digits (not including the trunk code 0), with five-digit area codes being assigned only in the New States (prefix 3). In general, geographic area codes start with digits 2 to 9, whereas other non-geographic area codes (including those for cell phones) are assigned to 1 and network services to 11. Area codes in Germany Geographic area codes have a length of two to five digits. The maximum length of a complete telephone number is eleven digits. Numbers for geographic area codes are assigned to carriers in blocks.