Vietnam dials in changes to telephone area codes

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Vietnam is planning to change its landline telephone area codes in 59 of its 63 provinces as part of a three-phase plan that is expected to come into effect in less than a year from now, said Minister of Communications Truong Minh Tuan in a recent announcement.

According to the plan, all area codes will start with a "2" and be either two or three digits long. Callers will be required to dial the new area code (plus the 7-digit number) to place a domestic call.

Minister Tuan said that people’s existing phone numbers will remain the same and there won’t be any changes to calls between fixed line numbers within the same province.

However, the changes will affect calls between different provinces and incoming calls from mobile phones and foreign countries to a fixed line number in Vietnam, Tuan said. In these cases, callers will be required to use the new area codes.

The plan is divided into three phases, with the first phase starting in February, 2017 in 13 provinces, and the later phases finishing in August the same year in another 46 provinces. Area codes in four provinces will remain the same.

Each phase will take three steps: announcements in the media, keeping both new and old phone numbers running in parallel for 30 days and maintaining notification of the changes for at least 30 days after the parallel dialing has ended. After that, all applicable calls must be made with the new area code.

Vietnam constructed its first repository of phone numbers in 2006 after eliminating a monopoly in the telecommunications sector, but the area codes and network codes of the previous networks have been left unchanged to avoid confusion.

The ministry hopes that the area code change will solve inconsistencies in Vietnam’s area code system without having a big impact on Vietnam’s telecom traffic and users.

“Some Vietnamese provinces have three-digit area codes while others have one or two-digit ones. It makes dialing numbers for long-distance calls difficult and confusing since it could be a 10 or 11-digit number.  This system is also not consistent with international practices,” said the minister.

“Subjects that will be most affected by the changes will be agencies, the business sector and organizations, in addition to organizations and individuals that have associated their products with area codes, such as business cards or advertisements,” said the ministry.

Reports on Vietnam’s telecoms sector show that inter-provincial calls and mobile and international calls to fixed landlines in Vietnam only account for 1.6 percent of the country’s total telecom traffic.

The ministry said the changes will be the first step in a long-term plan to reduce the number of area codes from 63 to only 10. Under this plan, adjacent provinces and cities will be grouped into regions with one area code. This should make the telecom network easier to manage, while people living in provinces with same area code will enjoy lower call rates.

Provinces subject to area code changes in the first phase (February 7 to April 14, 2017).

Provinces subject to area code changes in the second phase (April 15 to June 16, 2017).

Provinces subject to area code changes in the third phase ( June 17 to August 31, 2017).

Area codes for Vinh Phuc (211), Phu Tho (21), Hoa Binh (18) and Ha Giang (19) will remain the same.

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