Sunday, March 1, 2026

Phone dialing changes coming August 3: no more pesky prefixes

A simpler, streamlined dialing process is less than four months away from implementation, a new system that will eliminate several prefixes and will only require remembering a string of 10 digits.

The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) first announced the new standardized dialing system in the fall of 2017, explaining that current prefixes — including 01, 044 and 045 — would be phased out this summer.

Those prefixes were used to dial long-distance landlines and local and long-distance cellphones but come August 3, they will become outdated complications.

Starting on that date, it won’t matter what type of phone, or where it is located, that the caller is dialing.

The only numbers to dial will be the area code — two or three digits long — and the local phone number — seven or eight digits long, effectively making all phone numbers in the country 10 digits.

Those numbers should be dialed for local and long distance calls alike.

Callers from abroad can also stop using the extra 1 that was required when dialing cellphone numbers. Such calls will only require Mexico’s two-digit country code, 52.

The IFT also explained that nationwide and local emergency numbers, such as  911, will remain the same.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

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