What is a Universal International Freephone service?
Universal International Freephone Service is an international service, assigned the country code 800 by the ITU.
The intention is that any customer in the world can dial the same number to reach a business subscribing to a number, and at no charge to the calling party. A growing number of countries participate at the moment and more are being added whenever possible. In order to participate, countries must agree on the amount of revenue they will retain (to cover their costs of network transport) while still forwarding sufficient revenue to cover the recipient's costs of subscribing.
Universal International Freephone Number (UIFN)
A Universal International Freephone Number (UIFN) is a worldwide toll-free "800 number" issued by the ITU.
Like the 800 area code in the U.S. and Canada and 0800 numbers in many other countries, the call is free for the caller, and the receiver pays the charges.
UIFN uses country code 800, so that no matter where the caller is, only the international access code (IAC, usually 00), the UIFN country code (800) and the 8-digit UIFN subscriber need to be dialed.
Currently, a growing number of carriers in just over 60 countries participate in the UIFN program. Free access to the numbers (as international calls) from mobile and coin telephones is not universal.
Registration of a +800 number incurs a ITU setup and yearly maintenance fee in addition to any charges levied by the individual carrier and like any TollFree number they are only reachable from within the same country.
The number must be activated, and kept active, for inbound calls from at least two telephone country codes within 180 days.
Our standard UIFN solution includes the following countries:
| Argentina | Hong Kong | Peru |
| Australia | Hungary | Philippines |
| Austria | Iceland | Poland |
| Belarus | (Ireland - unavailable at this time. Possibly permanently) |
Portugal |
| Belgium | Israel | Romania |
| Brazil | Italy | Russia Federation |
| Bulgaria | Japan | Réunion |
| Canada | Kazakhstan | Singapore |
| China | Korea - South | Slovakia |
| Colombia | Kyrgyzstan | Slovenia |
| Croatia | Latvia | South Africa |
| Cyprus | Lithuania | Spain |
| Czech rep | Luxembourg | Sri Lanka (Only available with Special UIFN solution) |
| Denmark | Macedonia | Sweden |
| Estonia | Malaysia | Switzerland |
| Finland | Malta | Taiwan |
| France | Martinique | Thailand |
| French Guyana | Mayotte | Turkey (Only available with Special UIFN solution) |
| Germany | Netherlands | United Kingdom |
| Greece | New Zealand | United States |
| Guadeloupe | Norway | Uruguay |
| Uzbekistan |
We also have a custom UIFN solution whereby the countries Sri Lanka and Turkey are available as well. However, take note that the subscription, setup and p/minute charges will likely be significantly higher for all countries in this solution.
Get in touch with us if you want to discuss your requirements and options and a quote can be requested here: UIFN Quote request
