Which Network Is 070, 071, 074, 075? Sri Lanka Number Lookup
Check any Sri Lanka phone number: 070 and 071 are SLT-Mobitel, 072 and 078 Hutch, 074 to 077 Dialog. Get the network or area code city and the +94 format. Runs in your browser.
How it works
Sri Lanka uses a 10-digit open numbering plan published by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL). Every number is a trunk 0 followed by a two-digit network or area code and seven subscriber digits, nine digits in total after the 0. The tool parses your input in four deterministic steps; there is no maths and no network call.
- Normalise. Spaces, dashes, dots and brackets are stripped. A leading
+94,0094or bare94country code is converted to the national form, and a stray trunk 0 left after the country code (the common+94 0 77…mistake) is removed. The result is a canonical nine-digit national significant number. - Validate. The number must contain only digits and resolve to exactly nine national digits. Anything else returns a specific reason, too short, too long, a non-94 country code, or a stray character, instead of a silent failure.
- Classify. If the code starts with 7 it is a mobile number, and the two-digit code maps to the operator it was originally allocated to. Otherwise the two-digit code is matched against the TRCSL geographic area-code table to find the city, district and province. Unallocated codes (such as 073 or 079) are reported as invalid rather than guessed.
- Format. Per ITU-T E.164, the trunk 0 is a national prefix dropped in international form. The tool emits the local
0XX XXX XXXX, the international+94 XX XXX XXXX, and the gateway94XXXXXXXXXand0094…forms, then cross-checks them by reconstructing the local form back from the generated E.164 string. When the two agree, the “E.164 round-trips” badge is shown.
Mobile network codes (07X)
The two digits after the 0 identify the operator the prefix was allocated to. Sri Lanka has three mobile networks, Dialog, SLT-Mobitel and Hutch. The 075 band was originally Airtel, which amalgamated into Dialog Axiata on 30 August 2024, so Airtel is no longer a separate network here.
| Prefix | Operator (allocated) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 070 | SLT-Mobitel | |
| 071 | SLT-Mobitel | |
| 072 | Hutch | |
| 074 | Dialog | |
| 075 | Dialog | Originally allocated to Airtel Sri Lanka, which merged into Dialog Axiata. |
| 076 | Dialog | |
| 077 | Dialog | |
| 078 | Hutch |
Which network is each prefix? Quick answers
People usually arrive here with one question, so here are the common ones in plain words. For “071 which network in Sri Lanka”: 071 is SLT-Mobitel, as is 070. For “075 network”: 075 is Dialog, because the Airtel Sri Lanka range it started in was absorbed into Dialog Axiata. For “078 network” and 072: both are Hutch. For “074 which network in Sri Lanka”, and for 076 and 077 too: Dialog.
A “mobile code” is just those two digits after the 0. If you only want the full prefix list with no number to type, the 07X operator code list shows it, and the mobile number operator finder covers the same lookup from another angle. This page goes further: it validates the whole number, finds the landline city and builds the +94 forms.
Edge cases the parser handles
- Trunk 0 kept after +94. People often write
+94 077 123 4567. That is one digit too many, so the extra 0 is removed and the number is accepted. ITU-T E.164 says the national prefix is not dialled after the country code. - Country code without a plus. A bare
94771234567is read as gateway form only when it is exactly 11 digits. A 9-digit number that happens to start with 94 is not stripped, and is rejected because 94 is not an allocated code. - Other countries. A leading
+91or0091is rejected with the country code named, rather than being force-fitted into a Sri Lankan shape. - Allocated versus current network. The prefix tells you who first held that number block. Mobile Number Portability, which TRCSL has planned for 2026, lets a subscriber keep the number and change network. Reading the live carrier needs the regulated portability database, so this tool never claims it.
- Length limit. E.164 allows at most 15 digits in total. A Sri Lankan number is 11 digits with the country code (94 plus nine), well under that cap, so anything longer is flagged as too long.
What the number format looks like
Written for people, a mobile is 077 123 4567 and a Colombo landline is 011 234 5678. Written for forms and software, the same numbers are +94771234567 and +94112345678. SMS and WhatsApp APIs often want 94771234567 with no plus. If you only need a landline city, the telephone area code finder searches by town name instead of by number.
Mobile ranges and landline ranges never overlap, because every mobile national number starts with 7 and no geographic code does. That is why the line type can be decided from the first digit alone, before the operator or city is looked up.
Which format goes where
Use the local form, 077 123 4567, for anything a person in Sri Lanka will read or dial: business cards, delivery notes, invoices. Use the plain E.164 form, +94771234567, for sign-up forms, payment platforms, CRMs and contact apps, because it works from any country and sorts correctly. Use the gateway form, 94771234567, for SMS and WhatsApp APIs that reject a plus. The 0094 form is the old dial-out style from a landline abroad. Saving contacts in E.164 means they keep working when you travel or roam. If you are picking a SIM for a trip rather than checking a number, the tourist SIM comparison compares the three networks.
Fixed-line area codes (0XX)
Geographic codes identify the region of a landline, not the carrier, SLT and Lanka Bell can both serve the same code. Here is the full set across all nine provinces.
Western Province
Central Province
Southern Province
Northern Province
North Central Province
Eastern Province
North Western Province
Uva Province
Sabaragamuwa Province
Worked examples
Frequently asked questions
Sources & references
- TRCSL: Sri Lanka Numbering Plan (mobile codes & area codes)
- TRCSL: Numbering Plan manual (10-digit open numbering, PDF)
- ITU-T E.164: international numbering plan (country code +94)
- TRCSL: Mobile Number Portability consultation (2026 launch)
Prefix and area-code mappings were last cross-checked against the TRCSL numbering plan on 2026-06-21. Operator reflects the original prefix allocation; the page is reviewed when TRCSL updates allocations or when Mobile Number Portability changes how operators map to numbers.
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Comments & feedback
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Found a number that decodes wrong, or a missing area code?
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