About the French Phone System

Country Code for France

International Direct Dialing was set up in two steps.
Before 1960 one could not call France without going through
a Telephone Opérator.

1960 a first Pan European and Mediterranian
Direct Dialing system was established.
The system was a precursor for today's World phone system.

Two digit country codes were attributed to 40 countries.
Codes started with +20 for Poland and ended with +69 for Russia

Jacques Marette (1922 - 1984)
later the French Minister des Postes et Telecommunication
understood the strategic importance
to get a very easy to remember
and very beautiful sounding country code.
He managed to obtain the double 3, +33 county code for France.
(If anybody should know more details
of how Marette was able to get the +33 code
please contact the Phonebook of the World, as the editor
of this article would be interested, mail "c at vb.com".)

1964 the phone system was extended to the world.
9 World Telecom Zones were created:
+1 for North America
+2 for Africa
+3 and +4 for Europe
+5 for South America
+6 for South Asia
+7 for Russia
+8 for North Asia
+9 for the Middle East.

6 of the European Countries
that already had a double digit country code starting with 3 or 4
were able to keep it.
+30 for Greece
+33 for France
+39 for Italy
+44 for the United Kingdom
+46 for Sweden
+49 for West Germany

Thus France was able to kept it's prestigeous +33
and the UK it's +44 country code.

In most cases Latin countries have a country code +3x.
Germanic countries have a country code +4x
Larger countries have a 2-digit code,
smaller countries a 3-digit code.

Only two more countries have a symetric double
digit code, Brazil +55 and Thailand +66

small anecdote:
In the case of Brazil,
it is possible that Jacques Marette,
in the meantime French PTT Minister helped
to get it's prestigeous Brazilian +55 phone code.

He wanted to make a favor
to Aimée de Heeren, a beautiful Brazilian woman
that had contacted him with this request.

Aimée de Heeren and her friend Coco Chanel
had the crazy idea that +55 would be a lucky number ...
As a result Aimée de Heeren,
once a Brazilian Secret Service agent
for President Vargas
did everything she could to influce the attribution
of the phone code. More in the history section
of the Brazilian Whitepages, Whitepages.com.br


The city of Paris honored Marette by naming a square in the 15th arrondissement,
place Jacques Marette.


You find all the country codes of the world on the homepage
of the Phonebook of the World  (just below the World Map).

French Numbering Plan
came into service 1996 October 18.

small anecdote:
the editor of Whitepages.fr
remembers the moment very well ...
at the time he was working as a sales agent
for the American Call Back company MTC.
The Callback office was located at the Cybercafe de Paris,
the first Internet Cafe in Paris,
today the expo Center Cremerie de Paris.


... 1996 October 18 the phone switch occured at 11pm french time ... he had to answer test calls all night
Heide Osterlye Collins
from the MTC phonecompany in Petaluma, California
was verifiying if Call Back switches had been re programmed correctly in the US)

It is a 10-digit numbering scheme
where all phonenumbers, fixed and mobile
have the same lenght.

all French phonenumbers have
9-digits after the country code +33 x xx xx xx xx
or 10-digits if dialed from inside France
(including a 0 before the 9-digit number) 0x xx xx xx xx

Phonenumbers indicate the geographic location
01 for Paris and Paris Area (Ile de France)
02 for Northwest France including Normandy and Brittany
03 for Northeast France including Alsace and Lorraine
04 for Southeast France including the Côte d´Azur
05 for Southwest France including Aquitaine