Question: I am calling a country with country with country code “0061” – I do not recognize this number – what country is it? The phone number I was given is “0061 2 8223 xxxx.”
Answer: The number you are trying to call looks like Australia. The phone number is likely in the state of New South Wales.
“00” is an international exit code (the number used to access the international switchboard) for most European and Asian countries, as well as nearby New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor. If ’00’ is dialed from a country that does not use that as its exit code (the U.S. and Canada use ‘011’, Australia uses ‘0011’, Japan uses ‘010’, many countries of the former U.S.S.R use ‘8’ – wait for the dial tone – ’10’), the call will not work.
“61” is the country code for Australia. It is the number that is dialed to reach Australia from the international switchboard.
The remainder of the number appears to be the format for an Australian phone number. The ‘2’ signifies the area code for the state of New South Wales within the Australian numbering system. The remainder of the phone number is separated into eight numbers (two blocks of four digits).
See our “how to call Australia” page for details on how to call Australia from anywhere in the world.