Area Code 514 – Lemmer

Overview of Area Code +31 514

Area code +31 514 is a geographic National Destination Code (NDC) assigned to the region of Lemmer and its surrounding municipalities in the province of Friesland, in the northern Netherlands. This code is part of the Dutch numbering plan administered by the Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) under the ITU-T E.164 international standard. The service area includes the towns of Lemmer, Bant, Echten, and Rutten, as well as the northeastern shore of the IJsselmeer lake. The region is known for its water sports and tourism, but the code serves both residential and business lines within the fixed PSTN and VoIP networks.

Dialing Formats

When calling a landline in this area from within the Netherlands, you must use the full national number including the trunk prefix 0. For example, to reach a subscriber in Lemmer, you would dial:

• 0 514 XX XX XX (national format, where the local number is 6 digits long)

From outside the Netherlands, you must replace the leading zero with the country code +31, omitting the trunk prefix. The international format becomes:

• +31 514 XX XX XX

For instance, a typical number might be +31 514 12 34 56. Note that the total number of digits after the country code is 9 (including the area code), which is standard for Dutch fixed-line numbers.

Geographic Coverage and Jurisdiction

The +31 514 code is a geographic allocation, meaning that the number is tied to a physical location. The region falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the municipality of De Fryske Marren, which was formed in 2014 by merging several former municipalities. This area is part of the province of Friesland, known for its Frisian language and cultural heritage. The code covers a relatively small population, making it easier to identify the general location of a caller.

Overlay and Numbering Considerations

Currently, there is no overlay code for the 514 area. The Dutch numbering plan has been designed to avoid overlays by using 6-digit subscriber numbers within the area code, allowing for a maximum of 1,000,000 numbers per code. However, the actual number of active lines is far lower. As of recent years, there are no plans to introduce an overlay, and the code remains exclusively for the Lemmer region.

Calling Instructions

• Local callers within the Netherlands must always dial the full national number, including the area code, even if they are calling from a neighboring area. The old practice of omitting the area code for local calls has been abolished.
• International callers should dial the international access prefix (e.g., 00 from most countries) followed by 31 514 and the subscriber number. For example, from the UK, you would dial 00 31 514 12 34 56.
• Mobile callers within the Netherlands can dial the number as it appears in the national format, without any special prefix.

It is important to note that numbers in this area are primarily used for fixed-line services, including VoIP that is registered to a physical address. As with all Dutch geographic numbers, they are not portable to mobile networks, but they can be ported between fixed-line operators.