Area Code 338 – Dakar

Geographic Coverage and Administrative Jurisdiction

The +221 338 prefix is a geographic National Destination Code (NDC) assigned to the Dakar region, the capital and largest city of Senegal. This code covers the administrative jurisdiction of the Dakar Department, which includes the city center (Plateau), the Dakar-Plateau district, and the surrounding urban communes such as Medina, Gueule Tapee, and Fann-Point E-Amitie. As a geographic code, it is tied to the PSTN infrastructure of the Dakar metropolitan area, serving both residential and business fixed-line subscribers.

Primary Cities and Local Dialing Format

Within Senegal, callers dial the prefix 338 without the international access code. The national significant number (NSN) for a Dakar fixed line consists of the NDC (338) followed by a seven-digit subscriber number, resulting in a total of ten digits. For example, a local call to a Dakar number would be dialed as 338 XX XX XX. This format is consistent for all fixed-line numbers in Dakar, regardless of the specific district.

International Dialing Format

For international callers, the full E.164 format must be used: +221 338 XX XX XX. The plus sign represents the international access code, which varies by country (e.g., 00 in most European countries, 011 in the United States and Canada). When dialing from abroad, callers must replace the leading zero of the national prefix (if any) with the country code +221. Senegal does not use a trunk prefix (0) for domestic calls; the NDC is dialed directly.

Overlay Considerations and Caller Instructions

Currently, no overlay code has been introduced for the Dakar region. The 338 prefix is the primary geographic code for fixed-line services in Dakar, alongside other codes such as 339 and 33x series. Local callers within Dakar can dial the subscriber number directly if they are in the same local calling area, but for calls from other regions of Senegal, they must dial the full NDC plus subscriber number. Foreign callers should always include the country code and NDC, omitting any leading zero that may appear in local directories.

Technical Notes and Numbering Plan

Senegal's numbering plan follows ITU-T E.164 recommendations. The country code +221 is assigned to Senegal, and the NDC 338 is part of the national numbering plan managed by the Agence de Régulation des Télécommunications et des Postes (ARTP). Fixed-line numbers are allocated to operators such as Sonatel (Orange) and Expresso, and are used for both PSTN and VoIP services that are geographically anchored to Dakar. Number portability allows subscribers to retain their numbers when changing operators, but the geographic significance remains tied to the original location.