Area codes

Source: The emergency numbers in Taiwan are 110 (police) and 119 (fire and ambulance services). When making an inter-area long-distance call from within Taiwan, a long-distance prefix "0" is required. If calls are made from within the same area code, then the area code does not need to be included. Inter-area calls are defined as long-distance phone calls even when the two numbers have the same prefix. If calls are made from outside Taiwan, the "0" of the area code prefix is omitted. The following table of area codes includes this "0" prefix.

Exceptional case

The 01 code was reserved for Nanjing, which was the capital of the Republic of China before its retreat to Taiwan.

Mobile phones

Taiwan mobile phone numbers begin in three digits ranging 090~098 with a total length of 10 digits: 09X followed by 7 digits (e.g. 092 1234567). When calling a Taiwan landline phone number using a local Taiwan mobile phone, the 0 prefix for the area code must be included (e.g. area code with 0 prefix included + 8 digit landline number). When calling a Taiwan mobile phone number from outside of Taiwan, the 0 of 09X is omitted (e.g. +886 921234567). Format: (09X)XXXXXXX Mobile Phones with 090 range is mostly used for wireless data services (M2M).

Toll-free and premium rate

Toll-free numbers begin with the prefix 0800 and 0809. Numbers in the 020x prefix are used for value-added services:

International dialling

International dialling from Taiwan follows the following pattern: Carrier selection code – Country calling code – Area code (if required, usually for landlines) – Subscriber number Carrier selection codes, which direct the call via one of several providers, are as follows:

Country calling code

The international dialling code for making calls to Taiwan, and the other islands is 886. International dialling codes were assigned by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency of the United Nations, to its member states and their dependencies in the 1960s. Despite the Republic of China on Taiwan still being a member of the UN, and hence the ITU, other member states declared that "the only representatives of the people of China are the delegates to the ITU and its permanent organs appointed by the Central Government of the People's Republic of China". This led to the People's Republic of China being assigned the country code 86. Consequently, in the early 1970s, Taiwan had to be unofficially assigned a separate code, 886, although there was pressure from China to change this to 866. This had to be listed as "reserved", but in 2006, the code was formally allocated to "Taiwan, China".