Telephone numbers in Brazil

As established by ANATEL, the Brazilian federal telecommunications regulatory agency, the format for a local phone number is nnnn-nnnn (eight digits) for landlines, and nnnnn-nnnn (nine digits) for mobile lines. The first digits identify the service associated with the phone number:

• 1: special short public utility numbers (see below)
• 2 to 5: landlines
• 6 to 8: Unused (iDEN was disestablished in 2018)
• 91 to 99: mobile phones

0 is reserved for long-distance calls and cannot be used as a local initial digit (see below). 901 to 909 have been reserved for automated system of national collect calls (see below) since 1982 and cannot be used a local initial digits. 900 was used to premium-rate telephone numbers in the 1990s, but is not in use now.

Until the 1990s, there were also certain regions in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul with three-digit area codes and five (n-nnnn) or six-digit (nn-nnnn) phone numbers. In the city of São Paulo, although the area code has two digits, there were still six-digit telephone in use; 3X-nnnn phone numbers (with X=4 to 7) changed to 60X-nnnn and then to 310X-nnnn, 9X-nnnn phone numbers (with X=2 or 3) changed to 69X-nnnn and then to 669X-nnnn (today 269X-nnnn), and 6n-nnnn phone numbers which were changed directly to the eight-digit format (nnnn-nnnn) at that time. Even shorter numbers used to exist in previous decades, especially in small towns and before direct distance dialing became universal.

Landlines using prefixes beginning with 8 and 7 had their prefixes changed in 2000 and 2001 respectively for 8-digit numbers, and new area codes 22, 28, 64, 66, 87, 88, 89, 93, 94, 97 and 99 are included at this time.

Until 2005, some localities still used seven-digit local numbers (nnn-nnnn), such numbers being changed to eight digits (nnnn-nnnn).

Except in the case of the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the numbers of 7-digit landlines were given the number 3 preceding the old number.

In the state of Rio de Janeiro, only the 7-digit numbers beginning with 3 and 8 received the 3 preceding the old number, while the other numbers received the number 2 preceding the old number.

In the interior and litoral of the state of São Paulo, in many cases the old prefix of 7-digit numbers have been completely changed, but this numbers standardized with an 8-digit number starting at 3.

In the Greater São Paulo and neighborhood cities using DDD 11, the cities today uses numbers initializing with 2 , 3 , 4 or 5 , with the prefixes started in 2 are used mainly in São Paulo and Guarulhos, started in 3 mainly in São Paulo and Osasco, started in 4 used mainly in the metropolitan region and started in 5 used exclusively in the city of São Paulo.

Numbers beginning with 8 are reserved for mobile phones and numbers beginning with 7 were initially reserved for trunking, however they were later also intended for mobile phones.

Until 2008, the initial digit 6 was used for landlines in some parts of São Paulo and neighbouring cities in area code 11, but Anatel required that 6 be released for mobile use. Fixed-line numbers starting with 6 in that area were gradually changed during 2008 to new prefixes starting with 2. In other areas of Brazil, the initial digit 6 was not in use at that time, so no change was necessary because at this time landlines used prefixes beginning with 2, 3 or 4 outside the Greater São Paulo region.[5]

Today, landline numbers usually use the number 3 at the beginning of the number. The use of the initial digit 2 is occasional except in Greater São Paulo and the state of Rio de Janeiro. The use of initial digit 4 is also occasional except in Greater São Paulo and digit 5 is only used in São Paulo, despite Anatel's plans to allocate part of the prefixes started by such digit to rural landlines.

Numbers starting with 300n and 400n are reserved for a special case of non-geographic numbers (see below).

Numbers starting with 1500 and 1700 are used by some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to provide dial-up Internet access. Those ISPs have special pricing agreements with local landline operators and customers are charged less than the price of regular local calls when calling such dial-up access numbers.

Local directory assistance can be obtained by dialing 102, but the service is charged as a regular local call in most instances except from payphones. However, all local landline telephone companies offer on-line directory inquiries on their Web sites. Mobile lines are not available for inquiry, for privacy and security reasons.

Mobile phone numbers in Brazil are assigned the same geographic area codes as fixed lines, according to the subscriber's place of residence or most frequent use. Until the inclusion of the ninth digit, mobile phone numbers start with the digits 6, 7, 8 or 9. These initial digits are known to the public, so one always knows beforehand if one is calling a fixed or a mobile line.

After replacing the landline numbers that started in 7 in 2001 (with 7 or 8-digits in Greater São Paulo and 7-digits in other regions), these numbers were initially reserved exclusively for radiophone use (iDEN technology), but soaring demand for new mobile numbers eventually forced unused number ranges starting with 7 to be released for general mobile use.

Historically, at the time mobile numbers had seven or eight digits, the higher ranges of the 9 initial digit (96-99) were originally assigned to the old state monopolies before the privatization of Brazil's telephony system, and later to their privatized direct successors. In order to create a competitive market, later the Brazilian government auctioned further mobile service licenses, filling the available number ranges backwards - first with the lower ranges of 9 (91-95), then 8, and so on.

As a consequence, in the beginning 9 was more commonly assigned to mobile operators that used older technologies such as AMPS (analog), TDMA and CDMA, while for some time 8 was specifically reserved for all new GSM licenses. Now GSM is universally adopted by Brazilian mobile operators and, combined with number portability and the inclusion of a ninth digit to the left (see below), this distinction is no longer observed or meaningful.

The format for public utility service phone numbers is 1nn.[4] It includes all emergency (as well as some non-emergency) services, such as:

• 100: Human Rights Secretariat
• 112: universal emergency number for all GSM phones (redirects to 190)
• 128: standard emergency number in Mercosul (in Brazil, redirects to 190)
• 136: Ministry of Health hotline
• 147: Digital television transition hotline (2010–2023)
• 153: Municipal Guards
• 181: anonymous crime reporting (some areas only, others may use different, more miscellaneous numbers)
• 188: Centro de Valorização da Vida (Suicide prevention helpline)
• 190: Military Police
• 191: Federal Highway Police
• 192: ambulance
• 193: firefighters
• 194: Federal Police Department
• 197: Civil Police
• 198: state Highway Patrol
• 199: Civil Defense
• 911: emergency number in the United States (redirects to 190)

Most citizens only know the 190 (Military Police) number for emergencies, but 192 (ambulance), 193 (firefighters) and 199 (civil defense) are also commonly known. Usually a call to 190 (military police) describing an emergency with a non-criminal nature will be redirected to the proper number or provide assistance if they are qualified to (as in cases of choking children).

By law, 136 is printed on the packaging of all tobacco products sold in Brazil, so it is usually thought to be just a smoking cessation help hotline. That hotline does exist and can be accessed by this number, but 136 is actually a more comprehensive contact channel between citizens and the Ministry of Health.

In 2013, a law was approved that added two new numbers, 112 and 911, to mimic the emergency numbers from European countries and United States, respectively. A call to those numbers is redirected to the same lines as 190. The law was made because of the large number of foreign tourists expected for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, so the redirecting numbers were initially reachable only from the 12 World Cup host cities, but later the change was extended to the entire country.[10]

Some states and municipalities may have additional short 1nn public utility numbers for other services. For example, in many cities, such as São Paulo,[11] one can get information, make requests and complaints about most services and issues with the municipal administration by dialing 156. Regional utilities for services such as electricity and water supply may also have short access numbers starting with 1. In contrast to emergency numbers, which are always toll-free, calls to such services may or may not be charged.

Landline telephone companies' customer service numbers have been normatized as 103, followed by a two-digit code. For example, Embratel customers contact the company's customer service dialing 103-21.[12] For most mobile carriers, the number is 105, followed by a one-digit code (e.g., 105-2 for Claro). For cable and satellite television operators, the number is 106, followed by a two-digit code (e.g., 106-21 for Net and 106-11 for SKY Brasil).

The Brazilian system for long-distance dialing is relatively unusual and somewhat confusing, insofar as the choice of long-distance carrier determines the actual digit sequence to be dialed.

The standard format for writing down — but not for calling since 1999 — a long-distance phone number in Brazil is (aa) nnnn-nnnn, where aa is the area code and nnnn-nnnn is the local phone number. Due to persistence of old habits from the time when carrier codes were not used (see below), the format (0aa) nnnn-nnnn is still commonly seen, but this usage is discouraged, since it may confuse customers when actually calling, despite the mobile carriers give the option to complete the call with the old dialing (0aa) nnnn-nnnn with their own code in the configuration of the GSM/UMTS/HSPA/LTE SIM cards sold in the country. Area codes are distributed geographically. See the list of Brazilian area codes for a full list.

To dial a long-distance number within Brazil, one needs to use a carrier selection code, in order to choose which long-distance carrier will be used. The carrier selection code is specified before the area code; so, to actually place a call, one should dial 0-xx-aa-nnnn-nnnn, where xx is the two-digit carrier selection code. Because of that, sometimes long-distance phone numbers are written down as (0xxaa) nnnn-nnnn, with two actual letters x as placeholders, which the caller will replace by a carrier code.

For example, to call the number 2345-6789 in Rio de Janeiro (area code 21) using the long-distance carrier Oi (selection code 31), one would dial 0 31 21 2345 6789.

The use of carrier selection codes can be very confusing, because of the obvious added complexity, the different rates charged by different carriers, and even which long-distance carriers can be used to place the call, since not all of them service the entire Brazilian territory, and some are only available from mobile or from VoIP lines. For example, Claro (selection code 21) is available from any telephone line in all of Brazil, but Sercomtel (code 43) only in Londrina and some neighbouring cities.

ANATEL's Web site used to have a useful on-line system where the standard rates of all available carriers could be compared for the particular long-distance call one wants to place, but it was taken down in March 2013.

Some examples of carrier selection codes are:

• 12 Algar Telecom
• 14 Oi (formerly Brasil Telecom)
• 15 Vivo
• 21 Claro
• 31 Oi (formerly Telemar)
• 41 TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile)
• 43 Sercomtel

Area codes in Brazil are popularly known as "DDD codes" (códigos DDD) or simply "DDD", from the initials of "direct distance dialing" (discagem direta à distância in Portuguese). This was how the service was first advertised when it first appeared in the late 1960s, and the name stuck.

As of January 2009, Embratel is the only carrier offering operator-assisted long-distance calls, by dialing 0800-703-2110. Long-distance directory inquiries can be made dialing 0800-703-2100. However, subscriber numbers can also be obtained by a search at the destination telephone company's website. See the "External links" section below for a useful site with links to Brazilian directory assistance pages.

In Brazil, collect calls are automated. The phone number to be called is prefixed with a special code. Then, as the person being called answers the telephone, he/she listens to a short standard recording informing him/her that it is a collect call. Next, the call is established and the caller is supposed to say his/her name and location within the next six seconds. If the person being called hangs up within those six initial seconds, nothing is charged. Otherwise, the remaining time of the call is charged to the recipient's phone line.

This used to cause problems with answering machines and faxes, but the switch to digital voice mailboxes operated by the telephone companies largely eliminated that problem. Also, the widespread use of caller ID combined with the easily recognizable electronic tune played before the collect-call warning makes many people hang up immediately if they hear the tune and the number has not been recognized.

Local collect calls are dialed with the 9090 prefix; so, to call nnnn-nnnn collect, one would dial 9090-nnnn-nnnn.

To collect calls for long-distance numbers, one should dial 9 before 0-xx-aa-nnnn-nnnn, but not all numbers receipt this calls.

For example, to call the mobile number 99990-6666 registered in Greater São Paulo (area code 11) outside of this area using the long-distance carrier Vivo (selection code 15), one would dial 9 0 15 11 99990 6666.

International collect calls, for countries for which it is available, are not automated and must be placed through Embratel's international operator, dialing 0800-703-2111. One can also call an English-speaking AT&T operator directly by dialing 0800-890-0288.

Non-geographic numbers have a three-digit prefix and a seven-digit number. They are usually represented as if the leading 0 prefix were part of the three-digit prefix (like with long-distance numbers), resulting in the format 0ppp-nnn-nnnn. Some 0800 numbers are 6-digit only, For example, CELESC (Centrais Elétricas de Santa Catarina) has 0800-480-196.

The currently allocated prefixes are:

• 0300: local-rate calls
• 0303: televoting, charged at local rate
• 0500: premium-rate telephone numbers for charity donations, with a maximum of R$ 30.00 per donation (the telephone number is assigned to a donation value) + R$ 0.50 for call costs.
• 0800: toll-free telephone numbers
• 0900: premium-rate telephone numbers

In September 2008, ANATEL started the use of number portability in Brazilian territory, but the existing rules of the numbering plan were kept. Fixed-line customers can keep their numbers when moving their address and/or when switching telephone companies within the same municipality, and mobile lines customers can keep their numbers provided they stay within the same local area (i.e., the portion of the area code where calls are charged as local).[15]

• List of dialling codes in Brazil

• ITU allocations list

• Anatel - Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (in Portuguese)
• List of all area codes (DDD codes) in Brazil (in Portuguese)