France ready to ring the changes
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Settling back to work after their long summer holiday, the French are being alerted by a barrage of leaflets and advertisements to a threat looming on the autumn horizon. On 18 October, at 2300 hours precisely, all the country's telephone numbers are set to change.
The reason is that, thanks to the proliferation of faxes, computer modems and mobile phones, France's 11-year-old system of eight-digit numbers is almost exhausted. The new system will have 10 digits, and - it is hoped - will provide sufficient capacity for the next 30 years.
As of 18 October, France will be divided into five regions, each of which will have its own prefix - from 01 for Paris and the surrounding Ile de France, to 05 for the south west - to be added to the existing numbers.
The change will remove one of the oddities of the earlier system, which required the prefix 16 when dialling between Paris and the provinces.
France Telecom is using the opportunity to make two further innovations, both required by European Union regulations. In the first, also due in October, France will become one of the last EU countries to adopt 00 as the prefix for dialling abroad. And next February the emergency number changes to 112.
Explaining the change yesterday, the Telecommunications Minister, Francois Fillon, said that the eight-digit system had been expected to last only 10 years.
The government anticipates a further demand for numbers after deregulation in 1998, when some subscribers may forsake France Telecom for competing companies. It also wants to have sufficient capacity to offer the possibility of portable numbers for individual subscribers and, from 2001, to incorporate mobile phone numbers into the system.
France Telecom is setting up a helpline to assist those who might be confused - but, of course, you need to know the number. For reference, it is 5211.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments