Question : Country phone codes list for SMS marketing (E.164 format)

A country code is the 1 to 3 digit prefix that identifies a country in an international phone number: +1 for the United States and Canada, +44 for the United Kingdom, +33 for France. To send an SMS through Mailpro, every mobile number in your contact list must be in international (E.164) format: a plus sign, the country code, then the local number with no leading zero. The tables below list the codes for the most common destinations, with the SMS credits each one uses — check them whenever you import contacts from a national database.

Why does E.164 format matter?

Carriers route messages worldwide based on the country code prefix. A wrong prefix means the SMS either fails to deliver or arrives at the wrong destination at international rates.

E.164 is the international numbering standard of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). A number in this format starts with +, contains only digits after it and has at most 15 digits in total. Because it is the same everywhere, one list can mix contacts from many countries without confusion.

How do I convert a local number to international format?

1. Remove spaces, dashes, dots and brackets.
2. Remove the national trunk prefix, usually the leading 0 (in North America, the leading 1 dialed for long distance).
3. Add + and the country code from the tables below.

Exceptions to watch

• Italy: mobile numbers start with 3 and have no 0 to remove (+39 3...). Landline numbers keep their 0 after +39.
• Argentina: mobiles take a 9 after the country code, then the area code without its 0 and without the local “15” (+54 9 11...).
• Mexico: the extra “1” once used before mobile numbers is no longer needed; use +52 followed by the 10-digit number.
• Shared codes: +1 covers the United States, Canada and much of the Caribbean, and +7 covers Russia and Kazakhstan. The digits that follow tell them apart.

Country codes by region

Europe

Americas

Asia and Middle East

Africa

Oceania

Do email addresses have country codes?

Not in the phone sense. An email address can end in a country-code domain such as .fr, .de, .ch or .uk, which shows where the domain is registered, but many people in every country use .com or other generic domains. You cannot reliably tell a contact's country from their email address, so store the phone number with its own + country code.

The one place where a phone country code appears inside an email address is an email-to-SMS gateway. With Mailpro, an email sent to [email protected] becomes an SMS to that French mobile: see how to send an email as an SMS.

How do I fix phone numbers already in my list?

• Before importing, add a column with the country code and combine it with the local number in your spreadsheet, without the leading 0.
• Import the file into a contact list: see how to import a phone list.
• Correct individual contacts later: see how to edit email and phone fields.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I forget the country code?

The number cannot be routed correctly. It is either rejected or treated as a number in another country, so the SMS does not reach your contact.

Should I write 00 or + before the country code?

Use +. The 00 prefix is the international call prefix in many countries, but not everywhere (the United States uses 011), while + is understood worldwide.

Why do some destinations cost more credits?

Each country's carriers charge different rates to deliver an SMS, so the number of credits per message varies by destination. Message length matters too: see the SMS character limit.

Are there rules for sending SMS abroad?

Yes. Consent, sending hours and sender names are regulated country by country. Read SMS laws and restrictions before texting a new country.

Mailpro's online SMS gateway validates and routes numbers automatically. See SMS marketing or SMS pricing.