E.123
Encyclopedia
E.123, also known as Notation for national and international telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and Web addresses is an ITU-T
standard for printed representation of telephone number
s, e-mail address
es, and web addresses.
E.123 specifically recommends that:
In national notation
, parentheses are used to indicate digits that are sometimes not dialled.
Parentheses should not be used in the international notation.
A slash (/) may be used to indicate alternate numbers. (i.e. "555 1234/4444" means 555 1234 and 555 4444.)
It proposes to store emergency contact numbers prefixed with Arabic numerals
in the form “0nxxxx”; “n” is a digit from 1 through 9 and “xxxx” is any meaningful descriptive character string in any language or script (e.g. “Anna” or “Spouse”).
In the handset's directory this would be displayed as "01Anna" or "01Spouse" enabling easy identification by the emergency services. The handset’s directory entry (in the “contact number” field) would contain the actual number of the person to call in case of emergency.
This scheme is a language-independent version of the "ICE" (In Case of Emergency)
scheme that became popular in certain parts of the world from 2005 onwards.
ITU-T
The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector is one of the three sectors of the International Telecommunication Union ; it coordinates standards for telecommunications....
standard for printed representation of telephone number
Telephone number
A telephone number or phone number is a sequence of digits used to call from one telephone line to another in a public switched telephone network. When telephone numbers were invented, they were short — as few as one, two or three digits — and were given orally to a switchboard operator...
s, e-mail address
E-mail address
An email address identifies an email box to which email messages are delivered. An example format of an email address is lewis@example.net which is read as lewis at example dot net...
es, and web addresses.
Example formats
| Telephone number, national notation | (042) 123 4567 |
| Telephone number, international notation | +31 42 123 4567 |
| E-mail address | name@example.com |
| Web address / URL Uniform Resource Locator In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource.... |
www.example.com |
E.123 specifically recommends that:
- only spaces be used to visually separate groups of numbers "unless an agreed upon explicit symbol (e.g. hyphen) is necessary for procedural purposes" in national notation.
- only spaces should be used to visually separate groups of numbers in international notation.
In national notation
Local conventions for writing telephone numbers
Every country has different local conventions for writing telephone numbers. Writing a telephone number in a different format will look strange to a resident, and may lead to incorrect dialing when area codes are omitted for local calls....
, parentheses are used to indicate digits that are sometimes not dialled.
Parentheses should not be used in the international notation.
A slash (/) may be used to indicate alternate numbers. (i.e. "555 1234/4444" means 555 1234 and 555 4444.)
In case of emergency
A standardized language-independent way to identify a next-of-kin (or other emergency contact) in a mobile handset’s directory, in case of an emergency, has in May 2008 been adopted as a new clause in Recommendation E.123.It proposes to store emergency contact numbers prefixed with Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...
in the form “0nxxxx”; “n” is a digit from 1 through 9 and “xxxx” is any meaningful descriptive character string in any language or script (e.g. “Anna” or “Spouse”).
In the handset's directory this would be displayed as "01Anna" or "01Spouse" enabling easy identification by the emergency services. The handset’s directory entry (in the “contact number” field) would contain the actual number of the person to call in case of emergency.
This scheme is a language-independent version of the "ICE" (In Case of Emergency)
In case of emergency
In case of emergency is a programme that enables first responders, such as paramedics, firefighters, police officers, and Hospital personnel, to contact the phone owner's next of kin to obtain important medical/support information...
scheme that became popular in certain parts of the world from 2005 onwards.