A total of 15 provinces may have a new telephone prefix in the coming weeks, which will begin with number 8. These are Alicante, Almería, Cádiz, Cantabria, Ciudad Real, Huelva, Jaén, Lleida, Lugo, Madrid, Málaga, Navarra, Salamanca, Seville and Valencia.
The new provincial codes proposed by the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures would come into force when this body approves and publishes the corresponding Resolution in the BOE. From that moment on, the new numbering would be available for operators to request its assignment to the National Commission for Markets and Competition ().
For example, in Madrid, geographic numbers can now start with 8 (prefix 815), after verifying the situation presented by range 9 for Madrid. In other provinces, such as Lugo (882), Salamanca (823) and Valencia (860) the numbering may also start with 8 (as has been used for years in other provinces). Calls to landlines may start with 865 in Alicante; 850 in Almería; 842 in Cantabria; 826 in Ciudad Real; 848 in Navarra or 854 in Seville, according to the CNMC on its blog.
All Spanish provinces have 9-digit landline telephone numbers. And almost all the prefixes in Spain begin with 9, followed by another eight digits, although, as has been the case in recent years, it is increasingly common to receive calls from a provincial number that begins with 8.
Approval of the CNMC
The CNMC has assessed this proposal for numbering allocation “very positively” after the report that the agency already published this summer warning of the risk of exhaustion. The organization chaired by Cani Fernández recommended that the Secretary of State for Telecommunications attribute and award new indicatives to those provinces after verifying that they have a very high geographical numbering occupancy rate.
Today, 85% of the total is occupied. The CNMC monitors the pace of new assignments and informs the Secretary of State for Telecommunications if the provinces need additional resources in the short term, as has happened this time.
Numbering is a limited resource, which is why the Government is in charge of drawing up the National Numbering Plan, which is modified and updated when appropriate. In this way, for each service it establishes that a series of determined ranges must be used. For geographic numbering, these are the ranges whose first digit is 8 or 9 and the second digit is different from 0. Each province has one or more provincial codes identified by the first three digits.
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