The Latvian telephone numbering plan is a telephone number assigning system used in Latvia. All the numbers consist of 8 digits with exceptions for special services. The assigning process is controlled by the Electronic Communications Office (Latvian: VAS "Elektroniskie sakari") and regulated by the Public Utilities Commission (Latvian: Sabiedrisko pakalpojumu regulēšanas komisija).[2]
Format
The country code for Latvia is +371. The international dialling prefix is "00". The country does not use trunk prefix. However, in 2008, the "6" was prepended to all landlines.[citation needed]
During the Soviet occupation and until the transition in 1993, Latvia had the +7 013 area code.
Mobile telephones
2xх xx xxx—mobile phones.
Geographic numbering
5 xx xxxxx, 6 xx xxxxx, 7 xx xxxxx—landlines and other location-based numbers.
The 5-series is currently only reserved for future use. The 6-series is generally used for landlines and the 7-series is used with payphones throughout the country.
A variety of service numbers are assigned in the 1-series with lengths shorter than the standard 8 digits. Some of these services also provide 8-digit geographical numbers to be reachable from abroad.
Emergency
112 — Fire brigade, rescue services, civil protection (also general emergency number);
110 — Police;
113 — Ambulance;
114 — Gas emergency;
115 — Coast Guard
Calls to 112 are answered on average within 6 seconds and are answered in Latvian, English and Russian. In 98% of cases, the operator can detect the location of the caller within a minute.[3]
Various client services
1xx
Generic client services provided by various companies; calling costs to these numbers may vary depending on a number-by-number and an operator-by-operator basis as for example Lattelecom's client service number is toll-free when called from their network's phones.
11x
Additional services provided by the telephone companies.
118x
Major inquiry services.
16xx
Internal client services which can be used by the network operators as these numbers can only be reached from the particular network.