In 2010, national long distance calling was eliminated, and area codes were dropped.
To make a call between two cities from different departments, required dialing zero, an area code, and the local number.
This plan was implemented by URSEC (Spanish abbreviation for Regulator Unit of Services of Communications).
For example: Colonia The department of Maldonado is an exception: the 8-digit number consists of the former area code 42, followed by the old phone number, with no additional digit 4 set before: San Carlos (Maldonado Department) For calls from outside the country into Uruguay, the country code (+598) is prefixed to the 8-digit national number, while replacing the "+" with the international calling prefix used in the originating country.
When mobile telephony arrived in Uruguay, Movicom BellSouth was the only service provider.
Example: the number 094 111 111 may have been initially assigned by the company Movistar, but then the user may have switched to the telephone service provided by another company (Antel or Claro), keeping the same number.