Insights · Updated 2026-08
MCC, MNC and PLMN explained
Three short numeric strings identify every public mobile network on Earth: the Mobile Country Code (MCC), the Mobile Network Code (MNC), and the PLMN that joins them. They are stored on your SIM, broadcast by cell towers, and carried through the signalling that lets one operator recognise — and bill — another. This guide explains what each one means and how to read a code such as 23002.
The three identifiers at a glance
| Identifier | Digits | Defined by | Answers the question |
|---|---|---|---|
| MCC | 3 | ITU-T E.212 | Which country or territory? |
| MNC | 2–3 | National regulator, under E.212 | Which operator in that country? |
| PLMN | 5–6 | MCC + MNC concatenated | Which exact network? |
MCC — the Mobile Country Code
An MCC is a three-digit code assigned by the ITU under recommendation E.212. It names a country or territory, not an operator. The first digit sketches a rough geography: 2xx is Europe, 3xx North America and the Caribbean, 4xx Asia, 5xx Oceania, 6xx Africa and 7xx South America. Codes in the 90x range are not countries at all — they cover satellite, shared and test networks.
An MCC is emphatically not the same thing as a telephone dialling code. The Czech Republic is 230 for mobile signalling but +420 for dialling; the United Kingdom is 234 versus +44. See why 230 is not +420 for the full story.
MNC — the Mobile Network Code
Within a country, each licensed operator gets a Mobile Network Code — two or three digits, allocated by the national telecoms regulator. Crucially the leading zero is part of the code: 02 is a different network from 2. Most of Europe uses two-digit MNCs, while the United States and Canada use three-digit MNCs and spread across several MCCs (310–316).
PLMN — the network itself
A PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) is simply the MCC followed by the MNC. That concatenation is the globally unique key for a specific network — five digits when the MNC is two digits, six when it is three. On this site the PLMN is the primary identifier for every row; you can search the registry by it directly or fetch it from the free JSON API.
├─ 230 → MCC → Czech Republic
└─ 02 → MNC → O2
= PLMN 23002 → O2 Czech Republic
So 23001 is T-Mobile, 23002 is O2 in the Czech Republic, and 23003 is Vodafone. Change the MCC and the same MNC means something else entirely: 26202 is Vodafone in Germany.
Where these codes actually live
The MCC and MNC are not abstract — they are the opening digits of the IMSI stored on your SIM, and they are broadcast by every cell so a handset can decide whether it is at home or roaming. The first three digits of the IMSI are the MCC, the next two or three are the MNC, and the remainder is your subscriber number. See IMSI explained for the full anatomy, or what is a PLMN for how these codes drive network selection and roaming.
New to the topic? The what is MCC/MNC overview gives a shorter primer, and you can browse every allocation by country from there.