How to Identify all Nigerian Phone Number Prefixes

How to Identify all Nigerian Phone Number Prefixes

We discovered that many of our users on Tachio have been making a big mistake confusing Glo numbers to Airtel numbers, MTN to 9Moble, and vice versa. So, in this article, we are going to cover a list of phone numbers in Nigeria and their corresponding prefixes like 0703, and 0802. Does this number 0908 belong to MTN, Glo, Airtel, or 9Mobile? This article will shine a bright light on this confusion.

First of all,

WHAT IS A PHONE NUMBER PREFIX?

Probably you are wondering within yourself what the phrase ‘phone number prefix’ means. It simply means the first four sets of numbers that you see at the beginning of every phone number, which are used to identify a particular network service provider, against the others. Example 0706-530-4321. The first four numbers of this number are the prefix, and it tells us that the number is an MTN number. In Nigeria, we have a lot of network service providers, with a multiplicity of phone number prefixes. These, amongst others, are listed below:

MTN NIGERIA PHONE NUMBER PREFIXES

The numbers below are for MTN Nigeria. This means any gsm number that starts with any of the 4-digits stated below is owned by MTN.

1. 0803
2. 0806
3. 0703
4. 0706
5. 0813
6. 0816
7. 0810
8. 0814
9. 0903
10. 0906

GLO NIG PHONE NUMBER PREFIXES

These five are for Glo Nigeria. They started with 0805, and are continually acquiring new prefixes. They include;

1. 0805
2. 0807
3. 0705
4. 0815
5. 0811
6. 0905

AIRTEL NIG PHONE NUMBER PREFIXES

Airtel, an Indian telecom company, has the following number prefixes under its control. They include;

1. 0802
2. 0808
3. 0708
4. 0704
5. 0812
6. 0701
7. 0901
8. 0902
9. 0904

9MOBILE NIG PHONE NUMBER PREFIXES

9Mobile network covers the following numbers below;

1. 0809
2. 0818
3. 0817
4. 0909

Please always make sure you check the prefix of all numbers properly before sending airtime or data bundles on them. 

Table of the prefixes for the total network service provider operating in Nigeria 

MTN NUMBER PREFIXES
Prefixes	Mobile Operator
0703	MTN
0706	MTN
0803	MTN
0806	MTN
0810	MTN
0813	MTN
0814	MTN
0816	MTN
0903	MTN
0906	MTN
GLO NUMBER PREFIXES
0705	GLO
0805	GLO
0807	GLO
0811	GLO
0815	GLO
0905	GLO
AIRTEL NUMBER PREFIXES
0701	AIRTEL
0708	AIRTEL
0802	AIRTEL
0808	AIRTEL
0812	AIRTEL
0902	AIRTEL
0907	AIRTEL
0901	AIRTEL
9MOBILE NUMBER PREFIXES (Formerly Etisalat)
0809	9MOBILE
0817	9MOBILE
0818	9MOBILE
0908	9MOBILE