Telephone numbers in Germany
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The regulation of telephone numbers in Germany is the responsibility of the Federal Network Agency (German: Bundesnetzagentur, BNetzA) of the German government. The agency has a mandate to telecommunications in Germany and other infrastructure systems.
Overview
Germany has an open telephone numbering plan with variable sizes of area codes and subscriber telephone numbers. Before 2010, area codes and subscriber telephone numbers had no fixed size, meaning that some subscriber numbers may be as short as two digits. As a result, dialing sequences are generally of a variable length, except for some non-geographic area codes for which subscriber numbers use a fixed-length format. It is not possible to determine unambiguously the end of a phone number from a prefix or the digits already dialed. This feature allows the extension of the numbering plan without revoking or changing existing numbers. Mobile telephones are assigned to non-geographic codes, making them readily recognizable.
A new numbering plan was introduced on 3 May 2010. Since then newly assigned landline telephone numbers have a standard size of eleven digits, including the area code.
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