Telephone country code

Country codes were first defined in 1960 by the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (C.C.I.T.T) in Recommendation E.29 in the ITU Red Book as international codes. This work for the IInd Plenary Assembly of the C.C.I.T.T. only considered an international numbering plan for Europe, parts of western Asia, and some Mediterranean countries, In 1964, E.29 was expanded with a global code system of world numbering zones, loosely defined by geographic location. In the 1968 White Book, the definition of country codes was relegated to ITU Recommendation E.161. Codes were typically allocated by landmass and then subdivided by the capacity of each network at the time. France, the United Kingdom, the US and USSR obtained preferential numbers due to their dominance in telecommunications at the time, whereas China was able to ensure that Taiwan was officially unlisted while being allocated the code "886". ==World numbering zones==

The world numbering zones were defined by the C.C.I.T.T. in Recommendation E.29 in 1964. They were generally defined geographically, with exceptions for political and historical alignments. The terminology is largely obsolete. Zone 1, the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), uses country code 1 and a three-digit area code to designate the area served within the United States and its territories, Canada, and much of the Caribbean. Zone 2 uses two two-digit country codes (20, 27) and seven sets of three-digit codes (21x–26x, 29x), mostly to serve Africa, but also Aruba, Faroe Islands, Greenland and British Indian Ocean Territory. Zones 3 and 4 use sixteen two-digit codes (30–34, 36, 39–41, 43–49) and four sets of three-digit codes (35x, 37x, 38x, 42x) to serve Europe. Zone 5 uses eight two-digit codes (51–58) and two sets of three-digit codes (50x, 59x) to serve Central America (including Mexico) and South America. Zone 6 uses seven two-digit codes (60–66) and three sets of three-digit codes (67x–69x) to serve Maritime Southeast Asia and Oceania. Zone 7 uses two digits (7x) to serve Russia and Kazakhstan. Zone 8 uses four two-digit codes (81, 82, 84, 86) and four sets of three-digit codes (80x, 85x, 87x, 88x) to serve East Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia and special services. Zone 9 uses seven two-digit codes (90–95, 98) and three sets of three-digit codes (96x, 97x, 99x) to serve the West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. ==See also==