Telephone numbers in Bulgaria are administered and regulated by the Communications Regulation Commission, which publishes information about the National Numbering Plan for telephone services. Internationally the country participates in the E.164 world numbering plan with telephone country code 359.
For all calls within the country, the full national number must be dialed for all calls. Dialing between area codes the national number is prefixed with trunk code of 0.
Dialing example For example, to call a number in Sofia, dial: 02 xxx xxxx from inside Bulgaria +359 2 xxx xxxx from outside Bulgaria
Fixed-line numbers Domestic numbers are limited to eight digits in length. Area codes vary in length from one to five digits. Subscriber number lengths vary accordingly, from seven digits down to three digits. Sofia lines on digital switches have seven-digit numbers, those on analog switches had six; in Plovdiv, Varna and Ruse both are six digits; and in most other province capitals lines on digital switches have six-digit numbers and analog had five.
For a very long time, the state-owned Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) had a monopoly on fixed telephone networks. However, this ended when a special law was adopted. BTC was privatized in 2004 and competing operators appeared.
Larger areas, such as Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, and Burgas, are subdivided into zones. Although one cannot further reduce the number of dialed digits, the number itself shows which zone it is located in. For example, in Sofia, numbers starting with 2, 82, 92 are located in the Western suburbs, 7, 87, 97 in the Eastern suburbs, and 98 in the central area.
Around 2010 , the intensive process of replacing the old analog switches with modern digital ones completed. In some areas it is even possible to guess if a subscriber number was changed from analog to digital during its existence or was subscribed as digital initially. For example, in Blagoevgrad a number starting with 88 was subscribed as digital, and a number starting with a single 8 was analog before.
The first digit also shows if a particular subscriber number is operated by BTC or another operator.
The area codes are always cited with the trunk code. When dialing, all subscriber numbers must be prefixed with trunk and area code except short codes. Numbers starting with 700, 800 and 90x as well as mobile ones are prefixed by '0' only. When dialing from abroad, the trunk code 0 is replaced with the country code 359.
Mobile numbers
Until 20 July 2003 GSM networks used six-digit subscriber numbers in accordance with the limit of eight digits for the domestic part of a number. With the increase of subscribers (and an international requirement), all (except Vivacom, which started operations in 2006) acquired new access codes. On 20 July 2003, Mobiltel used three codes ((0)87, (0)88, (0)89) and Globul used two ((0)98 and (0)99). When these limits were also to be overwhelmed, seven-digit subscriber numbers and single access codes per operator were introduced, hence M-tel (now A1) reverted to 088 ( and 7 digits) only, while Globul (now Yettel) took the old M-tel code 089 (and 7 digits), and the rest were freed up. (Mobikom had gone through a similar change in the mid-90s – from (0)799 to (0)48).
Dialing to a mobile network requires the access code together with the 0. Dialing from a mobile network requires either an area or access code with the trunk or international format ((0)YY YXXX XXX or +359 YY YXXX XXX). The latter becomes a normal practice, since most people use number lists of their handsets, more people use their phones in roaming and all four operators show the caller ID in international format.
Area codes As in many countries, an area code is often written with the trunk code 0 prefixed. CodeArea or service 17x Paging services (six digits, not active: 177: Link Paging, 178: Varna Page, 179: Mobipage) 2 Sofia 30xSmolyan Province codes (301: Smolyan, 309: Pamporovo)30xx30xxx 31xPlovdiv Province codes31xx31xxx 32 Plovdiv 33xPlovdiv Province codes (331: Asenovgrad) 33xx 34 Pazardzhik 35xPazardzhik Province codes (350: Peshtera, 359: Velingrad) 35xx 35xxx 36xKardzhali Province codes (361: Kardzhali) 36xx 36xxx 37xHaskovo Province codes (373: Harmanli, 379: Svilengrad) 37xx 37xxx 38Haskovo 39xHaskovo Province codes (391: Dimitrovgrad) 39xx 41xStara Zagora Province codes (416: Chirpan) 41xx 41xxx 42 Stara Zagora 430 Tetra mobile network 43xStara Zagora Province codes (431: Kazanlak) 43xx 43xxx 44Silven 45xSliven Province codes (453: Kotel, 457: Nova Zagora, 454: Tvarditza) 45xx 46Yambol 47xYambol and Haskovo Provinces codes (470: Topolovgrad, 478: Elhovo) 47xx 47xxx 48 NMT mobile network Mobikom (six digits), disused 51xVarna Province codes (518: Provadiya, 519: Devnya) 51xx 51xxx 52Varna 53xShumen Province codes (537: Novi Pazar, 538: Veliki Preslav) 53xx 53xxx 54Shumen 55xBurgas Province codes (550: Sinemorets, 554: Nesebar) 55xx 55xxx 56Burgas 57xDobrich Province codes (570: Kavarna, 579: Balchik) 57xx 57xxx 58Dobrich 59xBurgas Province codes (590: Ahtopol, 596: Pomorie) 59xx 59xxx 60xTargovishte Province codes (601: Targovishte, 608: Popovo) 60xx 60xxx 61xVeliko Tarnovo Province codes (610: Pavlikeni, 618 Gorna Oryahovitza) 61xx 61xxx 62 Veliko Tarnovo 63xVeliko Tarnovo and Pleven Provinces codes (631: Svishtov) 63xx 63xxx 64 Pleven 65xPleven Province codes (650: Levski, 658: Belene) 65xx 65xxx 66 Gabrovo 67xGabrovo and Lovech Provinces codes (670: Troyan, 675: Sevlievo) 67xx 67xxx 68 Lovech 69xLovech Province codes (697: Lukovit) 69xx 69xxx 700 Local rate numbers (five digits) 70xKyustendil Province codes (701: Dupnitsa, 702: Bobov Dol, 707: Sapareva Banya) 70xx 71xxSofia Province codes (718: Koprivshtitsa, 720: Etropole, 721: Kostinbrod, 722: Samokov, 723: Botevgrad, 726: Svoge, 729: Godech) 71xx 72x 73 Blagoevgrad 74xBlagoevgrad Province codes (745: Petrich, 746: Sandanski, 747: Razlog, 749: Bansko) 74xx 75xxx 75xBlagoevgrad and Sofia Provinces codes (750: Borovets, 751: Gotse Delchev) 75xx 75xxx 76 Pernik 77xPernik Province codes (777: Radomir) 77xx 77xxx 78 Kyustendil 79xx Kyustendil Province codes 799 NMT mobile network Mobikom, disused, replaced by 048 800 Toll free numbers (five digits) 81xRuse Province codes (817: Byala) 81xx 81xxx 82 Ruse 84 Razgrad 86 Silistra 87 GSM/UMTS/LTE/NR mobile network Vivacom (seven digits) * 88 GSM/UMTS/LTE/NR mobile network A1 (seven digits) 89 GSM/UMTS/LTE/NR mobile network Yettel (seven digits) * 90xValue added services (five digits) 91xVratsa Province codes (910: Mezdra, 915: Byala Slatina) 91xx 91xxx 92 Vratsa 93xVidin Province codes (936: Belogradchik, 938: Kula) 93xx 93xxx 94 Vidin 95xMontana Province codes (953: Berkovitsa) 95xx 95xxx 96 Montana 97xVratsa and Montana Province codes (971: Lom, 973: Kozloduy) 97xx 97xxx 98 MVNOs on GSM/UMTS mobile network A1 (seven digits) † 999 LTE/WiMAX network MAX Telecom †
* Until 2003, the codes 089 and 087 were used by M-Tel † Until 2003, the codes 098 and 099 were used by Telenor – see above.
Short codes CodeService112emergency120wake up call121operator for long-distance calls within Bulgaria123operator for international calls124operator for international calls125operator for international calls130phone lines problems143emergency road service & road assistance144telephone information service146emergency road service & road assistance147area codes within Bulgaria148area codes within Bulgaria149area codes within Bulgaria152BTC local calls rates153BTC long-distance within Bulgaria calls rates154BTC international calls rates157BTC international calls rates159cultural events guide164shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna)167horoscope168National Radio schedule169horoscope170BTC assistance171theater schedule (by city)172currency exchange rates173tales for kids174trains time-table (by city)175weather forecast176BTC information177tales for kids178pharmacy information179currency exchange rates180time service181TV programs182tramp shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna)183ocean shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna)184tanker shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna)185line shipping information (in Bourgas and Varna)186BTC digital services information187send a telegram188TV programs190BTC rates guide191cinema schedule (by city)192TV programs193TV programs194TV programs195sport news196sport lottery results197international dialing codes198BTC terms of payment199automatic telephone information guide
References