A collection of various tid-bits of information about the numbering plan within country code 64.
Note that this information is not guaranteed to be up-to-date; please contact me if this is important to your application. The you should also consult the official Number Administration Deed.
Nowadays the numbering plan is pretty boring: nearly all "normal" numbers look like one of
| +64-N-NXXXXXX | +64-3 4 6 7 9-2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9XXXXXX |
geographic |
|---|---|---|
| +64-2-40XXXXX | ||
| +64-2X-NXXXXXX (with some exceptions) |
+64-20 2 3 7 8 9-2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9XXXXXX |
mobile |
| +64-21-01NXXXX | ||
| +64-21-02 8XXXXXX (longer) |
||
| +64-21-1 2XXXXXX |
||
| +64-21-3 4 5 6 7 8 9XXXXX (shorter) |
||
| +64-28-2 3 4 5 6 7 9XXXXXX |
||
| +64-28-899XXXX | ||
| +64-28-88XXXX (shorter) |
||
| +64-26-XXXXXX (shorter) |
Paging | |
| +64-8… | +64-508-XXXXXX | freephone |
| +64-800-XXXXXX | ||
| +64-83-XXXXXX | special service | |
| +64-21-010XXXXXX… |
All geographic numbers have a single digit area code (one of 3, 4, 6, 7 or 9) and a 7-digit local number (where the first digit is between 2 and 9). Within NZ we dial the local number, or 0 before an area code then the local number, or 00 before an international number. Service numbers generally start with 1 or 01, while local (geographic) numbers never start with 0 or 1.
Mobile services (cellphones and pagers) have a 2-digit area code starting with 2, and variable length "local" number (but normally 7 digits).
The division between 6 and 7 digit mobile numbers was originally the same for all mobile area codes, but sadly that is no longer so. Initially only Telecom provided mobile service, allocating numbers:
+64-25-3XXXXX +64-25-4XXXXX +64-25-7XXXXX +64-25-9XXXXXwhich corresponded to the regions where the service was based (which in turn corresponded to their regional corporate). (The "025" service was discontinued in 2006 or 2007; these numbers are no longer allocated to any service.)Then came Bellsouth (now Vodafone) who allowed people to "keep their old number", so of course they also allocated numbers
+64-21-3XXXXX +64-21-4XXXXX +64-21-7XXXXX +64-21-9XXXXXplus +64-21-6XXXXX for new (non-transferring) customers.Later, Telecom began allocating numbers +64-25-2XXXXXX and Vodafone began allocating numbers +64-21-2XXXXXX.
As time went on, both needed yet more numbers, so Telecom opened +64-25-6XXXXXX, which conflicted with the shorter numbers that Bellsouth had already asigned as +64-21-6XXXXX. Conversely Vodafone could allocate numbers in +64-21-1XXXXXX because they required the area code on all calls, whereas Telecom allocating numbers starting with +64-25-1 would conflict the short-dial service codes if dialed without the area code.
Then came Telstra-Clear, who gave out only 7-digit numbers, but they all ended in 2: +64-29-XXXXXX2. They currently insert the missing trailing "2" on calls received from other networks, however this is not guaranteed to continue.
In 2002 Telecom started a new CDMA network, with a new area code, and all numbers are 7-digit: +64-27-NXXXXXX.
In 2005 Vodafone (IMHO perversely) added eight-digit local numbers: +64-21-02XXXXXX.
In between all this, there is the paging service, which has a mixture of 6 and 7-digit numbers: +64-26-1XXXXX and +64-26-2XXXXXX.
The optimal strategy would be to assume 7-digit local or mobile numbers +64-2X-XXXXXXX except for the following cases:
+64-21-02XXXXXX
+64-21-3XXXXX
+64-21-4XXXXX
+64-21-5XXXXX
+64-21-6XXXXX
+64-21-7XXXXX
+64-21-9XXXXX
+64-26-1XXXXX
+64-28-87XXXX
+64-28-88XXXX
+64-28-899XXXX
You can generally assume that numbers starting with +64-2X-0 and +64-X-0 are invalid, because local numbers never start with 0. Similarly you can assume that numbers starting with +64-0 and +64-1 are invalid because area codes never start with 0 or 1 (or never start with 00 or 01, depending on how you look at it). If possible these should be intercepted with a message advising the caller to try again without the zero.
An exception to this is Vodafone (+64-21-), who require the area code to be dialled even for calls between their customers. Accordingly they have been able to allocate some numbers in +64-21-0XXXXXX and +64-21-1XXXXXX
To avoid confusion with foreign emergency service numbers +64-X-911 and +64-X-999 are unallocatable. Various other ranges have yet to be allocated.
As at this writing numbers I know that the following number ranges are empty, however they may be occupied in future and there may be a lag before I become aware of them:
+640-
+641-
+6420- except +64201-
+64240- except +6424099XXX
+6425-
+6430-
+6431-
+64325- except +64250
+64326-
+64327-
+64328- except +643280- and +643281-
+64329-
+64349-
+64355-
+64356-
+64358-
+64359-
+64360-
+64362-
+64363-
+64364-
+64365-
+64367-
+64370-
+64371-
+64372-
+64373-
+64377-
+64379-
+6438-
+643900-
+64391-
+643911-
+64399-
+643999-
+6440-
+6441-
+64424-
+64425-
+64426-
+64427-
+64428-
+6443- except +64438-
+64440-
+64441-
+64442-
+64445-
+64448-
+64453-
+64455-
+64459-
+6446- except +64461- and +64465-
+6447-
+64482-
+64484-
+64485-
+64486-
+64487-
+644900-
+644911-
+64494-
+64495-
+64496-
+64498-
+64499-
+644999-
+645- except +64508XXXXXX
+6460-
+6461-
+6462- except +64621- & 64627-
+64631-
+64639-
+6464- to avoid +6464 confusion
+6465- except +64651- and +64655-
+6466- except +64665- and +64666-
+6467- except +64675- and +64676-
+64680-
+64681-
+64682-
+64688-
+64689-
+646900-
+64691-
+646911-
+64693-
+64699-
+646999-
+6470-
+6471-
+647900-
+647911-
+647999-
+648- except +64800XXXXXX and +6483XXXXXX
+6490- except +64900XXXXX
+6491-
+6497-
+649900-
+649911-
+64999-
Except where indicated with +64, non-geographic service numbers can't be dialled from outside the country, except most 083XXX numbers can be reached as +64-83083XXX
In days gone by, all switches in New Zealand were rotary stepper types. Consequently the number plan had a lot to do with how calls were routed; this meant that numbering tended to be surprisingly consistent with respect to geography, but number lengths varied widely.
In many areas there would be a "major town", which had an area code and local numbers, and a number of satelite areas, which had the same area code, but a prefix code dialed before the local number (after the area code). If you were in one of those satelite areas, you would normally dial either 1 or 2 before a local number in the major town, or before the prefix and local number for any other satelite area off the same major town.
Area codes were introduced with subscriber toll dialling around about 1971 — I was a little young then to be taking much interest in the numbers of distant places (especially as I wasn't allowed to dial them because they cost so much). Each local calling area had its own "STD code", which always started with 0, and had 1, 2 or 3 more digits. Auckland, being the largest town, got 09; otherwise, you pretty much started at the northern tip of the north island (with 089 for Whangarei) and worked your way down to the deep south of the South Island (with 021 for Invercargill).
The more digits there were in the local number, the fewer there tended to be in the area code, and vice versa, but since the number of digits in a local number could vary, they didn't always add up to the same thing. The total was always at least 7 (not counting the leading 0) and no more than 9.
While this hodge-podge of number-lengths might seem confusing, it isn't really because:
It was fairly easy to keep the leading digits tied to a locale because the numbering could be expanded quite simply, by adding a digit or two on the front of an existing number. For example, the village of Leigh was a "satelite area" of Warkworth, and its access code was 26. Later, the digits 26 were simply added as the first two digits of the local number, and access codes were no longer required between Leigh and Warkworth. This change was not visible when calling from outside the Warkworth area.
Then in about 1986 a major renumbering was begun, which eventually affected almost all numbers — only numbers in Auckland (+649) and Wellington (+644) that already had 7 digits remained unchanged, and not even all of those. Some other places already had 7-digit numbers, which they kept, but their area codes changed. The transformation was completed in early 1993.
Wherever possible this transformation occured by combining the area code into the local number, and prepending a new area code (one of the 5 single-digit ones).
Service is dominated by Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Ltd, who were the incumbant before deregulation; previously Telecom was part of the government Post Office. However, there are a number of licensed telecommunication operators here now, including
If anyone has any questions, comments or updates for this page, please contact me.