Colombia/Guide for mapping/phone numbers
The structure of telephone numbers is the next one, which follows the international standard ITU-T E.123:
phone=+<country code> <area code> <local number>
The international code (country code) for Colombia is 57, and it should be following the + sign.
The area code (or NDC-National Destination code) corresponds to the geographic area or mobile operator and it is 3 digits long. This section should be separated by a space from the country code, and it is not surrounded by parenthesis.
The area code dictates which kind of number is, a landline one or a mobile one.
The landlines have the following area codes that group several departments / cities, in this way:
| Código de área | Departamento |
|---|---|
| 601 | Bogotá |
| 601 | Cundinamarca |
| 602 | Cauca |
| 602 | Nariño |
| 602 | Valle del Cauca |
| 604 | Antioquia |
| 604 | Chocó |
| 604 | Córdoba |
| 605 | Atlántico |
| 605 | Bolívar |
| 605 | Cesar |
| 605 | La Guajira |
| 605 | Magdalena |
| 605 | Sucre |
| 606 | Caldas |
| 606 | Quindío |
| 606 | Risaralda |
| 607 | Arauca |
| 607 | Norte de Santander |
| 607 | Santander |
| 608 | Amazonas |
| 608 | Boyacá |
| 608 | Caquetá |
| 608 | Casanare |
| 608 | Guainía |
| 608 | Guaviare |
| 608 | Huila |
| 608 | Meta |
| 608 | Putumayo |
| 608 | San Andrés y Providencia |
| 608 | Tolima |
| 608 | Vaupés |
| 608 | Vichada |
However, the norm indicates the for the area code can be any number between 600 and 699.
The different mobile operators can assign telephone numbers between the following area codes. However, for numeric portability the user can change the operator and keep the same telephone number.
| Operator | Prefixes (equivalent to area code) |
|---|---|
| Tigo | 300
301 302 |
| ETB | 305 |
| Claro | 310
311 312 313 314 320 321 322 323 |
| Movistar | 315
316 317 318 |
| VirginMobile | 319 |
| Avantel | 350
351 |
However, the norm says that it can be any number between 300 and 399 for mobile operators.
Other area codes can start with 8XX and 9XX which are used for services.
After the area code comes the phone number (SN - Subscriptor number), and this contains 7 digits. It is separated from the area code by a blankspace.
Then, for a mobile number like this: 301 210 00 00 it should be stored like this:
+57 301 2100000
For a landline from Bogota like this: 2219872 it should be written like:
+57 601 2219872
The new codes to dial affect the phone numbers, and for this reason all numbers should be updated to 10 digits. This is explained in this article from the Comisión de Regulación de Telecomunicaciones (Telecommunication Regulation Commission) (es).
CRC
The entity that regulates telephone numbers in Colombia is the Communications Regulation Commission - CRC. They kindly gave us the following answer regarding the numbering structure (2021-11-10):
The international number is made up of a string of maximum 12 digits, where the first 2 digits or CC correspond to the country code assigned by the International Telecommunications Union - ITU, and identifies Colombia internationally. The next part of the string of digits is composed of the national destination code or NDC which is currently composed of 3 digits for geographic areas (6XY) and 3 (3XY, 8XY, 9XY) digits for non-areas. geographic. Finally, the last 7 digits of the string correspond to the SN or subscriber number, which constitute the number that identifies the subscriber in a geographic or non-geographic region. The set made up of the NDC and the SN is called the N(S)N or national (significant) number, and its function is to select the destination subscriber in geographic or non-geographic regions. Geographic numbering is the set of N(S)Ns made up of national destination codes associated with a specific geographic region.