French telephone dialling codes: how to read and segment a prospecting file

You open your prospect file. A column packed with phone numbers: some 06s, some 01s, the occasional 09, and a few 08s you hadn't noticed. Before you start dialling, one question matters: what is each of these numbers worth? Which are mobiles, which are landlines, and which might cost you money or lead nowhere? Understanding French telephone dialling codes is not a minor technical detail. It's what turns a raw list into a workable file you can segment and act on.

Here is a concrete breakdown of each prefix, what it tells you (and no longer tells you) about your contact, and how to use it to sort your numbers intelligently before making your first call.

What French telephone dialling codes mean

French telephone dialling codes are the first two digits of a ten-digit number, indicating its category. According to the national numbering plan published by ARCEP (the French telecoms regulator), they fall into five families: 01–05 (geographic), 06–07 (mobile), 08 (premium-rate services), and 09 (non-geographic).

Each prefix tells a different story about the line on the other end. A 06 likely connects you to a person directly; a 01 rings on a desk phone, often a switchboard; an 08 may carry a surcharge; a 09 points to a broadband line. Learning to read these dialling codes means you can start segmenting your prospecting file before you dial a single number.

Geographic prefixes 01 to 05: regional — in theory

Prefixes 01 to 05 are fixed lines historically tied to a region: 01 for the Île-de-France (Paris area), 02 for the Northwest, 03 for the Northeast, 04 for the Southeast, and 05 for the Southwest. In practice, a 04 used to ring in Lyon, Marseille, or Nice; a 02 in Brittany or Normandy.

That geographic logic no longer holds. Since 1 January 2023, geographic numbers 01 to 05 have become national and can be kept or assigned with no location restrictions, per the ARCEP numbering plan for businesses. A company based in Lyon can now display a Parisian 01 number. For your prospecting file, the implication is clear: a geographic prefix is still a useful location indicator, but it is no longer a guarantee. You are better off building a clean telephone file where each number is tied to the actual address of the establishment, rather than inferring the location from the prefix alone.

Mobile prefixes 06 and 07: your primary target

Prefixes 06 and 07 designate mobile lines. Most of the time, these are the numbers that connect you directly to a person rather than to a switchboard. In prospecting, these are generally the most reachable segment in your file: a mobile follows its owner everywhere.

Since 2023, ARCEP has reserved 06 and 07 numbers exclusively for interpersonal communications and prohibits their use for calls or messages sent by automated systems, according to the ARCEP numbering plan. This does not affect your ability to call a mobile manually, but it is a reminder that a 06 is, by its nature, a personal line. The same professional contact may equally give you a 09 — their company line. For guidance on whether to reach someone on their mobile or their office line, our article on mobile vs. landline in prospecting covers the reachability trade-offs in detail.

08 prefixes: identify them and exclude them from outreach

Numbers beginning with 08 are special numbers known as value-added services (SVA in French). These are not personal lines: they are access numbers for a service (customer support, reservations, information). Dialling them as part of a prospecting campaign is, in most cases, a targeting mistake — and sometimes an expensive one.

ARCEP classifies these numbers using a colour-coded system, adopted by the French Ministry of the Economy: 0800 to 0805 are "green" (free to call), 0806 to 0809 are "grey" (charged at the standard rate), and 081, 082, and 089 are "purple" — meaning they carry a surcharge (economie.gouv.fr, 08 number pricing). For purple numbers, the French consumer institute INC notes that the surcharge can reach €0.80 per minute or €3.00 per call, VAT included (INC, SVA number pricing). In a prospecting file, the rule is straightforward: an 08 number is never an outreach line. Segment it separately and exclude it from outbound calling campaigns.

09 prefixes: the broadband box line

The 09 prefix designates non-geographic numbers, with no surcharge, most commonly linked to Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony. In practice, a 09 very frequently corresponds to the landline provided with a broadband box (Free, Orange, SFR, Bouygues) or a cloud-hosted business switchboard.

In a prospecting context, a 09 deserves a nuanced reading. It is neither a mobile nor a premium-rate 08 number: calling it costs the price of a standard local call and reaches a fixed internet line. ARCEP has also reserved a category of 09 numbers for exchanges between a subscriber and a "technical platform" — for example, message-based conversations between a brand and its customer — per the ARCEP numbering plan. In your file, treat 09 numbers as a sub-segment of landlines: reachable during business hours, rarely personal.

How to segment a prospecting file by dialling code in practice

Segmenting a file by prefix means creating a subset for each prefix, then adapting your calling strategy to each one. The logic comes down to four moves: isolate the mobiles (06/07), identify the useful landlines (01–05 and 09), remove the 08s, and cross-reference everything against actual reachability.

Here is how to work each segment once sorted. 06/07 numbers go first: these are your most direct lines, best called across a wide window (lunchtime, end of the afternoon). 01–05 numbers are your switchboard lines: call them during standard business hours and expect to get through a receptionist. 09 numbers fall into the same office-hours slot, with no surcharge risk. 08 numbers leave the outbound call list entirely — keep them in a separate column rather than deleting them, as they remain useful as a service number if you need to follow up with the company by another route. One final habit: the same prospect often appears with two numbers (a 01 and a 06, for instance) — keep both, but mark the mobile as the primary channel.

Once your numbers are sorted by prefix, the next step is to normalise them into a single format: E.164 format (+33…) makes automatic sorting easier and eliminates duplicate representations (06, 6, 0033 6). Then comes the question of actual validity: a correct prefix does not guarantee that a number is assigned and active — that is what a HLR lookup checks. Often, a single number per record is not enough: enriching your list with numbers found on the company's website helps recover a direct mobile where the original file only contained a switchboard number.

Prefix	Category	Line type	Use in prospecting
01 to 05	Geographic (national since 2023)	Landline	Switchboard / office line, call during business hours
06, 07	Mobile	Personal mobile	Most reachable segment
08	Value-added service (SVA)	Service number	Exclude (often premium-rate)
09	Non-geographic	VoIP / broadband landline	Internet landline, business hours only

Why a dialling code is no longer enough to locate a prospect

Geographic prefixes long served as a location proxy: a 03 meant "Grand Est or Hauts-de-France". That reasoning is still useful, but it is no longer reliable on its own. Number portability and the nationalisation of 01–05 numbers have broken the link between prefix and actual address.

The scale of the French phone market helps explain why this decoupling matters: ARCEP counted 83.8 million active SIM cards in France (excluding M2M cards) at the end of 2024 (ARCEP, 2024 market observatory, final results). In a pool that large, with mobile lines and ported numbers in the mix, a prefix tells you what type of line your contact uses — not where they live. To locate a prospect, it is more reliable to use the establishment's address than the prefix. This is the logic behind data enrichment that links each number to a real, verified company record.

Reading dialling codes without doing everything manually

Segmenting a file by prefix, normalising numbers, and removing 08s is manageable manually for a few dozen lines. Across several hundred contacts, the sorting becomes tedious and error-prone. That is where an integrated pipeline makes the real difference: extracting, enriching, and sorting numbers in a single workflow.

OutSend collects business contact data from Google Maps, then enriches each record: additional numbers found on the company website, validity checks, normalisation. Rather than stitching together a scraper, a cleaning tool, and a number verifier, you get a file that is already segmentable by dialling code and linked to real business establishments. You retain full control over the strategic layer — which segment to call, at what time — without spending your morning sorting prefixes. This is also a good moment to check your obligations: before any outbound B2B call, our overview of B2B telephone prospecting regulations and Bloctel (the French do-not-call register) summarises the applicable legal framework.

FAQ — French telephone dialling codes

What are the different telephone dialling codes in France?

France has five families of dialling codes: 01 to 05 for geographic fixed-line numbers (originally organised by region), 06 and 07 for mobiles, 08 for special value-added service numbers, and 09 for non-geographic numbers linked to internet telephony (broadband boxes, VoIP).

How can I tell if a number is a mobile or a landline?

Look at the first two digits. A number starting with 06 or 07 is a mobile. A number in the 01–05 range is a geographic landline, and 09 is a broadband internet landline. Numbers starting with 08 are neither mobiles nor personal lines: they are service numbers.

Are 08 numbers always premium-rate?

No. Under ARCEP's colour-coded classification, relayed by the French Ministry of the Economy, 0800 to 0805 are free to call (green), 0806 to 0809 are charged at the standard rate (grey), and only 081, 082, and 089 carry a surcharge (purple). In prospecting, the general rule is to exclude all 08 numbers, as none of them are outreach lines.

Does a 04 prefix guarantee the company is in the Southeast of France?

Not since 2023. Geographic numbers 01 to 05 became national and portable with no location restrictions. A 04 is still a hint of a Southeast presence, but it is no longer a certainty. To locate a prospect reliably, use the establishment's address rather than the prefix.

What does a number starting with 09 correspond to?

A 09 is a non-geographic number, with no surcharge, most often tied to VoIP telephony. In practice, it is frequently the fixed line of a broadband internet box or a cloud-hosted business switchboard. In prospecting, treat it as a landline reachable during business hours.

How do I segment a prospecting file by dialling code?

Create a subset for each prefix: isolate the mobiles (06/07), group the useful landlines (01–05 and 09), remove the 08s, then normalise everything to E.164 format. Cross-reference with a number validity check and match each line type to the appropriate calling window.

To place this topic in a broader context, browse the complete prospecting glossary.