What is a UIFN Number?

Have you been looking for a way to offer toll-free calling to your international customers? If so, we’ll show you how to get a UIFN number, as well as inform you of the many benefits that it can bring to your enterprise.

What is a UIFN number?

Universal International Freephone Number (UIFN) is a worldwide toll-free 800 number issued by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). Just like the series of 800 area code numbers issued for the NANP (North American Numbering Plan) in the U.S. and Canada (and other prefixes, like 844, 855, 866, 877, 888), as well as 0800 numbers in many other countries, calls made to a UIFN are free for the caller, while the subscriber pays the charges.
For businesses that are looking to gain a market presence in multiple international markets, the management of communication methods can get complicated — especially if your business offers multiple toll-free numbers and local regionally-specific numbers. As an example, if your company is looking to simultaneously expanding into France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, a Universal International Free Number can be purchased to ease the communications with potential customers in these countries in a fairly streamlined manner.

Benefits of UIFN Numbers for Business

Providing UIFN numbers to your customers creates a number of benefits for your business.

First, a UIFN number offers a way for customers and other businesses to reach your business more easily, no matter where they are located in the world. Because callers can reach your business without facing restrictions from their telecom service providers (such as long-distance fees or being blocked outright), Universal International Freephone Numbers help up open lines of communication to establish or further expand your business’ global presence.

Secondly, UIFN numbers are geographically ambiguous. This means that callers who dial your UIFN number or receive a call from the number won’t know where their call is being routed to. This can help foreign businesses that want to penetrate markets that they may not have established a physical presence in.

A third benefit of using UIFN numbers in your business is that they can be used for marketing and advertising efforts. By including your UIFN number on your ads, website, or other marketing materials, this establishes your business as a professional entity across multiple countries. Just to consider how much of an impact this makes on your business, think about having a separate phone number for each country and/ or region that you want your business to operate in — then think about trying to keep track of making sure that each phone number is used appropriately.

Fourth, if you choose to use UIFN numbers with a qualified service provider, like Global Call Forwarding, your business can pair the phone number with a variety of add-ons and functionalities that take advantage of the technology behind the UIFN number. Known as virtual phone numbers, these phone numbers use VoIP-based technology and developments in the cloud to offer a variety of features to compliment the use of UIFN numbers. Some of these features include advanced call forwarding to any landline, call recording to ensure that your business is in compliance with international regulatory organizations (for finance, banking, and investment industries), simultaneous ringing to ensure that every inbound call is answered by an available employee, conference calling, voicemail customization, and many more functions.

Best of all, these aren’t one-size-fits-all features; you can tailor each function to your business model, whether you’re looking to scale your business or make it more mobile-oriented.

Last, it’s not unheard of for savvy international entrepreneurs to use UIFN numbers to eliminate the use of physical call centers, replacing them instead with virtual phone numbers, which can be used remotely on any device that has audio capabilities and the ability to connect to the internet.

It’s for these reasons and many more that UIFN numbers offer a wealth of versatility to businesses and entrepreneurs, opening up new markets and offering ways for businesses to scale their business globally.

Author Bio:

Tom Senkus is a telecommunications writer who focuses on providing the newest tips, tricks, and developments that can aid small businesses to achieve a global presence. For more information about Tom’s published output and listed writing services,