Localization of telephone numbers in 01, 02, 03, 04 or 05, from 2023 will that no longer mean anything?

A decision taken by the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts (Arcep) in July 2019 comes into force on 1^er January 2023 and puts an end to the fixed telephony metropolitan card.

And it’s not okay, but then, granny really doesn’t like it.

The delighted Breton retains his fixed after moving to Toulon

Have you ever had, or heard the following thought when a landline phone starts ringing: ” Ah, it starts with 01, so I don’t answer “. For those who still use a landline (yes, there are), the “cards” will be reshuffled this 1^er January 2023. Until then, you knew mainland France subdivided into five main zones for the allocation of fixed telephone numbers, as shown below.

Beyond December 31, 2022, it will be good for the archives. Arcep’s objective is, in its decision no. 2019-0954, ” relax the geographic constraints applicable to geographic numbers “. For this, the authority conducted two public consultations in this direction between 2018 and 2019, and it emerged that the technological development grouped at the request of the “ final customer ”, namely the holder of the landline number, made it possible to initiate a modernization procedure.

Thus, in mainland France, the end of these areas of allocation is recorded as a constraint. If you move from Rennes (02) to Nice (04), you can therefore keep your current landline number if you wish. This less step to be taken for individuals is also very useful for professionals, because here again, in the event of a new location, they will remain reachable with the number known to their customers.

There is still a “but” beyond metropolitan France

Knowing that within these five large zones, there are a total of 412 Elementary Numbering Zones (ZNE), a simple move of a few kilometers to another ZNE could, here again, require a change of fixed number, this relaxation should not make people happy.

On the tech side, this decision by Arcep is in line with the growing use of the Internet for communications, with the majority now using VoIP to make calls to landlines. This practice “ removed geographical constraints that previously existed “, explains Arcep.

The only problem is on the Overseas side where the territorial division map remains in force. Moreover, in the event of moving from one overseas territory to another, or even to metropolitan France, the landline number cannot be kept.

Sources: Arcep Decision No. 2019-054, The world