Ethiopia Country Code 251 | ET | ETH | .et

Ethiopia’s Country Codes

• Telephone: +251
• 2 Letter: ET
• 3 Letter: ETH
• ISO 3116-1 Numeric: 231
• Internet TLD: .et
• ICAO Airport Code: HA
• Maritime Identification Digits: 624
• Emoji Flag: U+1F1EA U+1F1F9
• Official Name: The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

How to call Ethiopia (international dialing)

• Do not dial a leading ‘0’ in the international call sequence – it is only used in Ethiopia for domestic long distance calls and domestic calls to a mobile phone.
• A leading '+' in the phone number means 'dial your country's exit code'.
• Calling from a mobile phone: dial from on the country where you're currently located.
• Calling from a VoIP or satellite phone: dial from on the country where the phone is registered.

… to a mobile (cellular) phone or text (SMS)

Use the same call sequence.

Mobile phone numbers begin with ‘9’ (often listed as ’09’). Do not dial the leading ‘0’ when calling from outside the country. Satellite phone numbers use numbers starting with ‘911’ and ‘919’.

When calling a mobile phone user, dial to the country where the mobile phone is registered, regardless of where the person is currently roaming.

… to a VoIP phone

Use the same call sequence.

When calling a VoIP phone user, dial to the country where the VoIP phone is registered, regardless of where the person is currently roaming.

… to a satellite phone

Ethiopia has a range of satellite phone numbers using area code ‘9’ and subscriber numbers starting with ’11’ and ’19’.

Most satellite phones operate on their country code – calls to these satellite phones follow their call sequence.

… sending a fax

Use the same call sequence.

How to call within Ethiopia (domestic dialing)

‘0’ is used as a trunk prefix for calling to a different area code within Ethiopia.

Local calling (within the same area code)

To call within the same area code in Ethiopia dial only the local number. Do not dial the trunk prefix ‘0’ or the area code.

Long distance calling (to a different area code, or from a mobile phone)

To call to a different area code within Ethiopia dial the trunk prefix ‘0’, then the two digit area code, then the local phone number.

Mobile calling (to a mobile phone)

To call a mobile phone within Ethiopia dial the trunk prefix ‘0’, then the two digit carrier code, then the local phone number.

Ethiopian phone numbers explained

Number details

Ethiopian phone numbers are nine digits.

The first digit designates whether the phone number is a landline or mobile phone number.

With landlines, the first two digits are an area code that designates a geographic part of the country.

Mobile numbers are represented by area codes starting with ‘9.’

An example of an Ethiopian phone number

The Tizeze Hotel lists its phone number in Addis Ababa as +251.116.39.20.00.

Phone number explanation

Local example – calling from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

To call within the same area code dial only the local phone number. Do not dial the trunk prefix or the area code.

Long distance example – calling from Werder, Ethiopia (on the other side of the country)

To call from a different area code dial the trunk prefix ‘0’, then the area code, then the local phone number.

Mobile phone example – calling from a mobile phone (including a foreign mobile roaming in Ethiopia)

To call from a mobile phone dial the trunk prefix ‘0’, then the area code, then the local phone number.

International example – calling from outside Ethiopia

To call from outside Ethiopia, dial the exit code of the country the call is dialed from, followed by Ethiopia’s country code of ‘251’, followed by the local phone number.

Do not dial any leading ‘0’ listed in the Ethiopian phone number.

How to call from Ethiopia

’00’ is used as an exit code when dialing an international call from Ethiopia.

Sources and more resources

• ITU (International Telecommunications Union) – United Nations specialized agency for information and communications technologies.
• International Telecommunications Union – DIALLING PROCEDURES (INTERNATIONAL PREFIX, NATIONAL (TRUNK) PREFIX AND NATIONAL (SIGNIFICANT) NUMBER) (IN ACCORDANCE WITH ITU-T RECOMMENDATION E.164 (11/2010)) – A collection of dialing procedures for all countries and regions of the world. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
• International Telecommunications Union – Ethiopia (country code +251) National Numbering Plan – Details of Ethiopia’s telephone numbering plan as submitted to the ITU. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
• Wikipedia – Telephone numbers in Ethiopia – Wikipedia entry for telephone number data for Ethiopia. Includes specific number ranges for each city as well as detail on calling procedures.
• BT – The Phonebook – Ethiopia – Entry for Ethiopia in the British Telecom international directory.