Nepal country code +977 — call Nepal & get a number.
Home to Everest and a vast diaspora working across India and the Gulf, Nepal keeps its own clock at UTC+5:45 — and reaches the world on +977. Here's all of it: dialing from the US, UK, India and the Gulf, every area code from Kathmandu out, live mobile prefixes, that famous 45-minute time offset, and how your business secures a Nepalese virtual number with MCM.
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Nepal at a glance
The numbers and facts you need before you dial.
What is the country code for Nepal?
Nepal sits on the world map at +977 — a single code for the whole country, from Kathmandu's valley to the high Himalaya. From abroad it follows your exit code (or the + sign).
At home, Nepalese numbers show a trunk 0 before the area code, so the capital reads as 01 locally — but that 0 falls away the moment your call goes international. A Kathmandu line written 01 XXXXXXX in Nepal becomes +977 1 XXXXXXX to a caller overseas.
Code +977 was assigned to Nepal by the ITU under the E.164 plan. The “+” means “dial your local international exit code”; on a mobile, press and hold 0 to type it.
All four mean the same thing — they connect your call to Nepal.
How to call Nepal from anywhere
Reaching Kathmandu takes the same three steps from anywhere: your exit code, then 977, then the Nepalese number minus its leading 0. It's the routine millions in the diaspora already run nightly — from a flat in Dubai or a shift in India — so the pattern is well worn.
Full example: +977 1 XXX XXXX — drop the local leading 0 when calling from abroad.
Nepal phone number format explained
Nepalese landlines pair an area code of one to three digits with a subscriber line — and Kathmandu owns the shortest code in the country, a lone 1. Mobiles are a different animal: ten digits, opening with 98 or 97, and tied to no particular city, which is exactly why they travel so well with Nepal's mobile, far-flung population.
Landline
Area code + subscriber. Kathmandu 01 412 3456 → +977 1 412 3456.
Mobile
10 digits beginning 98x/97x. Example 9841 234567 → +977 9841 234567.
Nepal area codes — major cities
Drop the local leading 0 when calling from abroad.
| City | Region | Area code |
|---|---|---|
| Kathmandu | Bagmati (capital) | 1 |
| Pokhara | Gandaki | 61 |
| Biratnagar | Koshi | 21 |
| Birgunj | Madhesh | 51 |
| Bharatpur / Chitwan | Bagmati | 56 |
| Butwal | Lumbini | 71 |
| Nepalgunj | Lumbini | 81 |
| Dharan | Koshi | 25 |
| Janakpur | Madhesh | 41 |
| Hetauda | Bagmati | 57 |
| Dhangadhi | Sudurpashchim | 91 |
| Itahari | Koshi | 25 |
Nepal mobile network prefixes
The prefix after +977 tells you which network issued the SIM — though number portability means it no longer guarantees the operator.
Nepal Telecom (NTC / Namaste)
Ncell
Nepal time zone
Nepal observes Nepal Time (NPT, UTC+5:45) year-round — one of the world's few 45-minute offsets — and does not use daylight saving.
For the Gulf and India — where so much of Nepal's diaspora works — the Kathmandu workday overlaps almost in full (mind only the 15-minute split from India's IST). For Europe, dial mid-afternoon in Kathmandu (13:00–17:00) to catch the EU morning.
Open the interactive best-time-to-call plannerCommon mistakes when calling Nepal
Almost every failed international call is a formatting issue, not a network issue.
Rounding Nepal's time to the nearest hour: This is the big one. Nepal runs on UTC+5:45
a 45-minute offset that's one of only a handful on earth — so it's never a whole number of hours from your zone. It even sits 15 minutes ahead of neighbouring India. Schedule a call "on the hour" and you'll be early or late; always do the :45 math.
Keeping the trunk 0: Drop the leading 0 after +977 (use +977 1
Keeping the trunk 0: Drop the leading 0 after +977 (use +977 1 ..., not +977 01 ...).
Confusing 977 with 1: 977 is the country code; 1 is Kathmandu's area code
Confusing 977 with 1: 977 is the country code; 1 is Kathmandu's area code.
Mis-counting mobile digits: Nepalese mobiles are 10 digits (e
Mis-counting mobile digits: Nepalese mobiles are 10 digits (e.g. 9841 234567).
Confusing Nepal with India: India is +91; Nepal is +977
they are different countries.
Tips to reduce the cost of calling Nepal
Route over VoIP/SIP or a virtual number rather than a carrier's international rate to Nepal.
Where possible, ring a landline area code
fixed lines into Kathmandu usually cost less than mobiles.
Keep a local Nepalese DID so callers at home reach you on an in-country +977 line.
Respect the UTC+5:45 offset when booking
getting the :45 right first time saves the repeat call.
Why businesses get a Nepal virtual number
With millions of Nepalis living and working abroad — and remittances a pillar of the economy — there's constant call traffic between Kathmandu and the wider world. A +977 virtual number lets recruiters, remittance services, travel firms and support teams give that audience a local line to ring, no Kathmandu office required.
Higher answer rates
A local +977 caller ID is trusted and picked up more than a foreign number.
Lower trust friction
A Nepalese line tells callers — at home or in the diaspora — that you're genuinely reachable.
Cheaper inbound
Move calls over IP instead of paying international termination into Nepal.
Centralized routing
Send every +977 call to the right team, in any time zone.
Faster expansion
Open a Nepalese presence in minutes, with no local premises.
Real PSTN presence
A true, dialable Nepalese number that rings on every local network.
Nepal virtual numbers with My Country Mobile
My Country Mobile delivers carrier-grade Nepalese numbers — from Kathmandu codes to seamless global routing — tuned for clear, reliable voice across every time zone your callers live in.
Local DIDs in major area codes — provisioned in minutes
Call forwarding to any mobile, landline, SIP endpoint, or softphone worldwide
HD voice with G.711, G.729, Opus & AMR-WB — auto-negotiated per call
Sub-150ms latency on major voice corridors via distributed PoPs
99.99% uptime SLA backed by geo-redundant infrastructure & sub-2s failover
WebRTC support for browser-based calling without softphone installs
REST APIs for provisioning, routing & call detail records (CDRs)
Built-in fraud protection with AI anomaly detection & STIR/SHAKEN
24/7 network monitoring and dedicated support
How to get your Nepal virtual number
Most businesses are live within hours, not days.
Choose your code — a Kathmandu 1 line or another Nepalese city.
Pick a plan and channel capacity to match your volume.
Set up routing, IVR and forwarding to land calls with the right team.
Go live — your +977 line takes calls the same day.
Other country dialing guides
More country codes worth bookmarking.
Get a Nepal virtual number with MCM
Take a +977 line, route it to any team, and sound at home in Kathmandu from the very first ring.
Nepal +977 — FAQ
Why is Nepal's time UTC+5:45 instead of a round hour?expand_more
Nepal sets its clock to local solar time near Mount Gauri Shankar, landing on a 45-minute offset — one of only a few worldwide. It's deliberate, permanent, and the reason "on the hour" scheduling never quite works.
How far ahead of India is Nepal?expand_more
Exactly 15 minutes — Nepal is UTC+5:45, India is UTC+5:30 — so even neighbouring calls need a small time adjustment.
Does Nepal observe daylight saving?expand_more
No. Nepal stays on NPT (UTC+5:45) all year, so the offset to your zone never shifts on Nepal's side.
Why is Kathmandu's area code just one digit?expand_more
Nepal allocates short codes to its largest centres, and the capital draws the single digit 1 (dialed 01 at home). Smaller cities carry two- or three-digit codes.
How do I tell a Nepalese landline from a mobile?expand_more
Landlines use a city area code and are shorter; mobiles are always 10 digits and begin with 98 or 97.
Which operators run Nepal's mobile networks?expand_more
Two dominate: Nepal Telecom (NTC/Namaste), strongest in rural areas, and Ncell, strong in cities and data.
Can I get a Nepalese number to reach the diaspora?expand_more
Yes — MCM provisions +977 DIDs you can route to any team, ideal for recruitment, remittance and support lines serving Nepalis abroad.
What should I dial in an emergency in Nepal?expand_more
100 for police, 101 for fire, 102 for ambulance; 112 also works from mobiles in many areas.