In Finland, the number of area codes was drastically cut down in recent years. (The change was in 1997, if the file dates say anything to me...)
How this was technically done? Well, I can give you an example: I used to live in Kuhmo (in Oulun Lääni). Our phone number was 986-521xxx. (986 was the Kainuu area code.) In Kuhmo, most people had phone numbers that started with 51 or 52. Before the great change, the number was first prefixed with 6 (or 65) to get the number to 7 digits: 986-6521xxx. After this, everyone in the Oulu telecommunications area had distinct phone numbers; The new number was just 08-6521xxx. Everyone in the big area could call to the friends with local calling charges. And everyone was happy. (Except for the people in the geographically small Helsinki, for whom mostly nothing changed, except for the area code...) This was mostly done like this, except for area code 932 that was split among new 02 and 03 areas.
The current area codes are as follows. The old area codes are listed after them.
- 02 - Turku and Pori - 921, 922, 924, 925, 926, 930, 932, 938, 939
- 03 - Häme - 916, 917, 918, 919, 931, 932, 933, 934, 935, 936, 937
- 05 - Kymi - 951, 952, 953, 954
- 06 - Vaasa - 961, 962, 963, 964, 965, 966, 967, 968
- 08 - Oulu - 981, 982, 983, 984, 985, 986, 988, 989
- 09 - Uusimaa - 90
- 013 - Pohjois-Karjala - 973, 974, 975, 976
- 014 - Keski-Suomi - 941, 942, 943, 944, 945, 946, 947
- 015 - Mikkeli - 955, 956, 957, 958, 959
- 016 - Lappi - 960, 9692, 9693, 9694, 9695, 9696, 9697, 9698 (Looks like this area wasn't particularly favored by Tele in the old times =)
- 017 - Kuopio - 971, 972, 977, 978, 979
- 018 - Ahvenanmaa (Åland) - 928
- 019 - Uusimaa II - 911, 912, 914, 915
- 049 - Tele (currently Sonera) NMT (Decommissioned) - 949
- 0400 - Tele (currently Sonera) NMT (Decommissioned) & GSM - 9400
- 040 - Sonera GSM - 940
- 050 - Radiolinja GSM - 950
- 0500 - Radiolinja GSM - 9500
(In recent years, there have been a couple of new GSM area codes... anyone got a list?)
Sources: As surprising to me it was, this list came from web version of Saku (Finnish Amiga User Group) newsletter - though I personally remember why these area codes were so important: back when BBS scene was strong and the old system was still in use, people were more curious where the BBSes were geographically =)