A new 011 dialing code for international calls out of St. Maarten to other parts of the world will go into effect Monday night – so long as all goes well with the final fine-tuning of various telecommunication equipment throughout St. Maarten.
According to the Bureau of Telecommunications (St. Maarten) the new 011 international dialing code will be referred to as St. Maarten’s Exit Code in keeping with standard telecommunication terminology around the world.
The introduction of the new 011 Exit Code is Phase II of St. Maarten’s adoption of the North America Numbering Plan (NANP).
Phase I was the introduction of a new 1-721 International Access Code for calls coming into St. Maarten from outside destinations and the gradual phasing out of the 599 International Access Code of the former Netherlands Antilles later this year. Also included in this phase was the introduction of new carrier select numbers for major telecommunication carriers on Dutch St. Maarten.
St. Maarten’s incumbent telecommunication carrier, TelEm Group, will be implementing Phase II of the NANP Project later this evening (Monday) when technical staff make all necessary provisions and configurations on company equipment and software.
TelEm Group Network Engineer and the company’s NANP Coordinator, Mr. Donville Hodge, says customers will be able to use the new 011 number to call family and friends in foreign countries that are not in the North America Numbering Plan (NANP) grouping.
He said customers on St. Maarten who wish to call family and friends in countries that are part of NANP grouping only need to call a Country Code (1) + and Area Code and then the local number – e.g.
International calling to St. Maarten from countries outside the NANP:
Access code + country code + area code + local number
Example, calling from The Netherlands to St Maarten: 00 + 1 + 721 + xxx.xxxx
International calling from St. Maarten to countries outside the NANP:
Exit code + country code + area code + local number
Example, calling from St Maarten to Amsterdam: 011 + 31 + 20 + xxx.xxxx
Mr. Ryan Wijngaarde, Human Resources Manager, Public Relations Officer & Consumer Affairs Officer of the regulatory body, the Bureau Telecommunications and Post St. Maarten, says an island-wide public awareness campaign gets under way this week informing the general public about the 011 new Exit Code for St. Maarten.
"The 011 code is used to dial out of St. Maarten when making an international call to countries that are not in the North America Numbering Plan (NANP) grouping, including the BES islands, Curacao the French Side and the Netherlands," said Mr. Wijngaarde.
He said the new 011 Exit Code is not required when making calls to countries with a country code 1, because these would be NAPA countries.
"We will be distributing a brochure and other information leaflets and advertisements and we also have a lot of information on our website (www.sxmregulator.sx/nanp@sxmregulator.sx) about the entire numbering plan process and we encourage everyone to visit the site," continued Mr. Wijngaarde.
The Bureau of Telecommunications and Post St. Maarten and TelEm Group are urging members of the public to start making use of the new 011 Exit Code for St. Maarten right away so that it becomes second nature.
"The old way of dailing to reach family and friends overseas will cease very quickly so it’s very important to get the message out to all businesses and residents on St. Maarten right away," said Mr. Hodge of TelEm Group.
He said while the local regulator is taking the lead in informing the general public about the various milestones reached in the number plan transformation, it is however the responsibility of each telecommunication carrier to ensure that its own customers are informed accordingly.
"The successful implementation of Phase II will not only depend on the configurations we have to make but also on the willingness of customers to make use of the new 011 Exit Code before the old dialing code is officially discontinued," said Mr. Hodge.