The person who (or device that) answers a telephone is the called party. The person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call is the calling party.

In some situations, the called party may number more than one: such an instance is known as a conference call. Strictly, in some systems, only one called party is contacted at each event, as to initiate a conference call the calling party contacts the first called party, then this person contacts the second called party, but audio is transferred to both called parties.

In a reverse charge (or collect) telephone call, the called party pays the fee for the call, when it is usually the calling party that does so.