Enabling Connections

A Vital Resource

A Brief History of Phone Numbers

Telephone Numbers…Your dentist has one, your local grocery store has one, your smart phone has one, even your smart watch has one. But have you ever wondered where all of these phone numbers come from? The answer, the North American Numbering Plan.

The North American Numbering Plan, commonly known as the NANP, was created in the 1940s to provide an integrated telephone numbering plan for North America. Twenty countries in North America now participate in the NANP and share numbering resources. To ensure numbers are available to meet future demands, an Administrator for the NANP manages this critical resource. The Administrator manages and preserves the NANP resources, oversees the impartial distribution of telephone numbers to telecommunications service providers and optimizes the assignment of numbers.