The Philippines National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has announced an upcoming numbering plan change scheduled for the overnight hours of October 5-6, 2019 in the Philippines. This change will alter the dialing for phone numbers based in Metro Manila, Rizal province, and the cities of San Pedro and Bacoor. This guide will explain the change, and what changes may need to be made for your Twilio application.
What is Changing?
All Philippines local numbers in the 02 area code will append an additional digit to the end of the area code (02X), moving from 7-digits to the new standard of 8-digits (11-digits when counting the country code of +63). This 8-digit local numbering plan will take effect on October 6, 2019, per NTC Memorandum Order 10-10-2017.
All Twilio phone numbers in the 02 area code will append the digit “8”, and then continue using the same previous 7-digit number. This changes the internationall calling format to +6328XXXXXXX when calling internationally, or 028XXXXXXX when calling locally from the Philippines.
Using the imaginary phone number 63 02 123 4567 as an example:
- Until October 5, 2019, the correct E.164 formatting for dialing this phone number will be
+63 02 123 4567 - Beginning October 6, 2019, the correct E.164 formatting for this number will be
+63 02 8 123 4567
Impact Timeline
The NTC will begin the cutover on October 6, 2019 at midnight local Philippines Standard Time (PST). This change is scheduled to be complete by 05:00 PST (October 5, 2019 21:00 UTC). After this time, all calls to the 02 area code will need to use the new 8-digit format to successfully connect.
As of September 24, 2019, Twilio has added new 8-digit versions of any 7-digit Philippine phone numbers you currently have provisioned on your project(s). You can view and modify the routing for these numbers now in Console or via the REST API.
To help prevent any additional confusion, we have also temporarily stopped offering new 7-digit phone numbers in the Philippines. We will resume offering new Philippines-based phone numbers in the updated 8-digit format on October 7, 2019.
Will my application be affected by this change?
Twilio recommends the following actions for customers using Philippine-based Twilio numbers, or users who regularly call out to the Philippines:
- If any of your customers are using local numbers in the 02 area code (Metro Manila and surrounding areas), inform them of the numbering plan change and the date of implementation (October 6 @ 05:00 PST / October 5 @ 21:00 UTC).
- If you need to make a configuration change to any of your affected phone numbers, please make that change to both your current 7-digit phone number and the new 8-digit phone number added to your account.
- Modify your Twilio application as necessary to use the newly formatted number by no later than October 6, midnight PST.