Area Code 56 – Hordaland

Geographic Coverage and Administrative Jurisdiction

The Norwegian country code +47, assigned under ITU-T E.164, is used for all telephony services within the Kingdom of Norway, including Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Within this national numbering plan, the prefix 56 is a geographic National Destination Code (NDC) allocated to the region of Hordaland, a county located on the west coast of Southern Norway. Hordaland encompasses the city of Bergen, the second-largest urban area in Norway, along with municipalities such as Askøy, Os, and Austevoll. The geographic area code 56 serves both the urban center of Bergen and the surrounding coastal districts, providing PSTN and VoIP fixed-line services to residential and business subscribers.

Dialing Formats and Number Structure

In the Norwegian numbering plan, geographic area codes are two digits long, followed by an eight-digit subscriber number. Therefore, a complete national significant number (NSN) for a subscriber in the Hordaland region using the 56 prefix consists of 10 digits in total (including the leading '56'). For domestic calls, subscribers must dial the full 10-digit number, e.g., 56 12 34 56. No trunk prefix '0' is used in Norway; the national significant number is dialed directly. For international callers, the Norwegian country code +47 must be used, and the leading '56' is retained, resulting in the format +47 56 12 34 56. It is important to note that the Norwegian numbering plan does not use a '0' after the country code, so international callers should not drop any digits when dialing a Norwegian number.

Overlay and Number Portability Considerations

Norway has not implemented overlay area codes in the traditional sense; instead, the country uses a closed numbering plan where the NDC is an integral part of the subscriber number. However, number portability is fully implemented across all service types. This means that a subscriber originally assigned a 56 prefix may have moved to another geographic region or switched to a mobile or VoIP provider while retaining their original number. Consequently, the prefix 56 does not guarantee that the subscriber is physically located in Hordaland; it only indicates the original assignment. Callers should be aware that calls to numbers with the 56 prefix are always charged as geographic fixed-line calls, regardless of the actual location of the subscriber, unless the number has been ported to a mobile network, in which case tariffs may differ.

Caller Instructions

• Local callers within Norway: Dial the 10-digit number directly, e.g., 56 12 34 56.
• International callers: Dial the international access prefix (e.g., 00 from most countries) followed by 47 and the 10-digit number, e.g., 00 47 56 12 34 56.
• Callers from mobile phones in Norway: Dial the 10-digit number as usual; no area code prefix is required.

For businesses and individuals in Hordaland, using the 56 prefix provides a strong local presence, which can be advantageous for customer trust and regional marketing. When dialing from abroad, always remember to replace the international access code with the appropriate prefix for your country.