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International network number

published · September 27, 2026

An international network number sits under a calling code the ITU gives a global service rather than a country, such as +870, +881, +882 or +883, so its country is null.

An international network number is a number under a calling code the ITU assigns to a global service instead of a country, so it belongs to no national numbering plan and no national regulator's table. The ITU's list of assigned E.164 country codes (the annex to Operational Bulletin 1114, position on 15 December 2016, https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-E.164D-2016-PDF-E.pdf, accessed 27 September 2026) lists ten codes assigned to global services, and libphonenumber 9.0.37 reads nine of them, all but +991, a shared code for trials of a proposed new service: +800 International Freephone Service, +808 International Shared Cost Service, +870 Inmarsat, +878 Universal Personal Telecommunication, +881 Global Mobile Satellite System, +882 and +883 International Networks, +888 Telecommunications for Disaster Relief and +979 International Premium Rate Service.

What Spaw answers

country, country_name and region are null and timezones is empty: no country's plan or table covers these numbers. carrier_code and carrier_brand are null too, and carrier is null unless the numbering metadata's prefix data names a network for the range, as it does for every +881 range (a +881 6 number answers "iridium satellite") and for a few +882 ranges; no regulator's table stands behind those names. calling_code carries the code and line_type the numbering metadata's type for the range. The international_network signal, +30, fires for four codes only, +870, +881, +882 and +883, the satellite and international networks, and it adds to any line-type weight. That metadata types every +883 range as VoIP, so before any other signal a +883 number scores voip +30 and international_network +30, 60 in all; +870 and +882 hold both mobile and VoIP ranges, so theirs score 30 or 60, and +881 numbers, typed mobile, 30. A score of 60 is high but still passes the default SMS policy, whose ceiling blocks only a score above 60.

The other five codes are scored by their type alone. +979 numbers are premium_rate (+60), which the default SMS policy blocks as a signal; +878 numbers are voip (+30) and +808 numbers shared_cost (+20); +800 numbers are toll_free and +888 numbers uan, and neither type carries a weight.

What it does not mean

The signal says which kind of calling code the number sits under, not who uses it or why. A ship, an aircraft, a remote site and a machine network all number from these codes. What they share is that no country answers for them, which is why an SMS policy with allowed_countries set refuses numbers under all nine codes with blocked_by: country: a number with no country is outside every allow-list, a business choice about where you send rather than a fraud verdict. Without a zone, local_time is null and a calling window cannot be checked.

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More glossary

  • Area-code overlay

    An area-code overlay is a new area code added over the same area as an existing one, instead of splitting it, so neighbours can hold different codes and local calls need ten digits.

  • Calling window

    A calling window is the span of local hours a sender contacts people in. Spaw answers in_call_window from the number's time zones: clock arithmetic, not compliance advice.

  • Fictional number

    A fictional number sits in a range kept out of service for films, TV and other fiction: 555-0100 to 555-0199 in North America, and ranges Ofcom, ARCEP, ACMA and ComReg reserve elsewhere.

  • International (exit) prefix

    An international prefix is what is dialled to leave a country before the calling code: 00 in most of the world, 011 in North America. Spaw reads it and suggests a fix in did_you_mean.

  • Live carrier check (HLR lookup)

    A live carrier check asks the mobile networks, at the moment of the lookup, whether a number is in service, which network serves it and whether it is roaming. On Spaw it is not enabled.

  • Number pooling (thousands-blocks)

    Number pooling splits a North American central office code into ten blocks of a thousand numbers, each assigned to a carrier separately, so one code can hold several carriers' numbers.

  • Number portability

    Number portability lets a subscriber keep a phone number when changing carrier. The number's block stays listed under the carrier it was issued to, so block data names the original holder.

  • Operating company number (OCN)

    An operating company number (OCN) is the four-character code North American numbering tables use to identify the company that holds a central office code or thousands-block.