🇬🇧 United Kingdom (+44)

United Kingdom Phone Number Validator & Carrier Lookup

British numbers hide more traps than most: not every 07 is a mobile — 070 is personal-redirect, 076 is pagers — and 03, 08 and 09 look local but are non-geographic. Veriphone reads each number against Ofcom's National Telephone Numbering Plan and returns its line type and originally allocated operator — EE, O2, Vodafone or Three — so a genuine mobile is easy to tell from a look-alike before you spend an SMS on it.

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+44
Dial code
10
Digits after +44
4
Mobile operators
< 20ms
Lookup latency

United Kingdom phone number format

United Kingdom numbers carry the +44 country code with a national trunk prefix of 0, dropped in E.164 format. Mobile and fixed-line ranges are distinguished by their leading digits and returned as a line_type you can filter on.

Mobile — E.164 format
+44 7400 123456
Domestic form: 07400 123456 — the trunk prefix 0 is dropped for international format. 10 digits after +44.
Fixed line — E.164 format
+44 121 234 5678
Domestic form: 0121 234 5678 — the trunk prefix 0 is dropped for international format. 10 digits after +44.

United Kingdom mobile operators & prefixes

Each mobile prefix is allocated to a specific operator. Veriphone returns that operator from the Ofcom numbering plan, along with line type.

Each prefix belongs to one operator — but a number can be ported. The prefix tells you the operator a number was originally allocated to. Because United Kingdom allows number portability, a number can keep its prefix after switching networks, so the prefix alone doesn't guarantee the operator serving it today. A Standard lookup returns the allocated operator; add mode=current to resolve the operator serving a ported number now.
EE
0781, 0794–0796, 0798, 07300–07304, 07375–07377, 07396, 07398–07399, 07409–07410 +43 more
Owned by BT Group; one of the four original UK networks and the largest by coverage, built on the former Everything Everywhere network.
O2
0751, 0754, 0756, 0759, 0770–0771, 0773, 0784, 0792 +49 more
Operated by Virgin Media O2 (a Telefónica and Liberty Global joint venture); one of the four original UK networks.
Vodafone
0776–0778, 07340–07342, 07349–07353, 07370–07373, 07379, 07384–07388, 07391–07393, 07407 +39 more
Since the merger completed on 31 May 2025 it is part of VodafoneThree; it still trades as a distinct consumer brand while the underlying network is being combined.
Three
0747, 07360–07367, 07378, 07380, 07383, 07400–07403, 07411–07414, 07426–07429 +46 more
Also folded into VodafoneThree on 31 May 2025 (originally Hutchison's UK network); kept as a distinct consumer brand alongside Vodafone rather than run as a separate operator.

Plus 77 smaller networks (MVNOs), including Vectone Mobile, Core Communication, Gamma Telecom, Lycamobile, TalkTalk. Veriphone resolves each to its host network.

Fixed-line area codes

For landline numbers, Veriphone returns the city or region where the numbering plan resolves one. Mobile numbers are non-geographic and carry no city.

London
020
Birmingham
0121
Manchester
0161
Leeds
0113
Liverpool
0151
Sheffield
0114
Edinburgh
0131
Glasgow
0141
Ported numbers. The UK has had number portability since 1999, so a subscriber can keep the same number when switching operator, which means an original allocation range no longer reliably identifies who serves a number. Standard lookups return the operator to whom the range was originally allocated by Ofcom. Add mode=current to resolve the operator now serving a ported number.

Questions about United Kingdom number validation

Why does a UK number lose its leading 0 in E.164 format?

The leading 0 is a domestic trunk prefix, not part of the international number. A mobile written locally as 07400 123456 becomes +44 7400 123456, and a London landline 020 1234 5678 becomes +44 20 1234 5678. Strip the trunk 0 and prepend +44 when normalising; never keep both.

Is every UK number that starts 07 a mobile?

No. Genuine handsets sit on 071 to 075 and 077 to 079. The 070 range is personal-number redirect services that look like mobiles but are not handsets and cost more, and 076 is reserved for pagers (with 07624 being Isle of Man mobiles). Check the returned line type rather than assuming 07 means mobile.

Are 03, 08 and 09 numbers geographic landlines?

No, they are non-geographic. 03 is a national range charged like an 01/02 landline, 08 covers freephone and service numbers, and 09 is high-cost special-rate services. Do not treat any of them as area-coded local numbers or map them to a city.

Can I assume a fixed area-code length for UK landlines?

No. Geographic codes vary in length, from 2-digit (020 London) to 3-digit (0121 Birmingham) to 4- and 5-digit codes for smaller towns, so fixed-width parsing breaks. And because a ported number keeps its original allocation range, use mode=current when you need the operator that actually serves it.

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