Location | |
---|---|
Country | South Africa |
Continent | Africa |
Regulator | Independent Communications Authority of South Africa |
Type | Closed |
NSN length | 9 |
Format | (AB) xxx-xxxx |
Numbering plan | Numbering Plan Regulations |
Last updated | March 24, 2016 |
Access codes | |
Country code | +27 |
International access | 00 |
Long-distance | 0 |
South Africa switched to a closed numbering system effective 16 January 2007. At that time, it became mandatory to dial the full 10-digit telephone number, including the zero in the three-digit area code, for local calls (e.g., 011 must be dialed from within Johannesburg). Area codes within the system are generally organized geographically. All telephone numbers are 9 digits long (but always prefixed by 0 for calls within South Africa), except for certain Telkom special services. When dialed from another country, the "0" is omitted and replaced with the appropriate international access code and the country code +27.
Numbers were allocated when South Africa had only four provinces, meaning that ranges are now split across the current nine provinces.
South-West Africa (including Walvis Bay) was integrated into the South African numbering plan. [1] However, the territory had already been allocated its own country code by the International Telecommunication Union, +264, in the late 1960s. [2]
Following its independence, Namibia discontinued direct dialing from South Africa and replaced it with international dialing using the +264 country code. For example, for a call from South Africa to Windhoek, before and after 1992:
Calls to Lesotho could be made using the access code 050 instead of the international code +266; for example, to call Maseru from South Africa, subscribers would dial 0501. [5]
Calls to Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe could similarly be made using the regional codes 0192, 0194 and 0191, respectively, instead of the international codes +267, +268 and +263. [6]
International access code effective from 16 October 2006 and mandatory from 16 January 2007.
The old Transvaal province, currently comprising Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and part of the North West:
Western and Northern Cape:
Eastern Cape and eastern parts of the Western Cape:
Free State and Northern Cape
Cellular [7]
Note that from 10 November 2006, mobile number portability was introduced in the cellular market. The cellular prefixes as above are therefore not strictly applicable anymore, although they remain mostly unchanged.
There are still some non-automated exchanges which use longer dialing codes, mostly for "farm lines" and remote areas with operator-assisted exchanges.
09X XXX XXXX numbers are no longer in use in South Africa.
Telecommunications infrastructure in South Africa provides modern and efficient service to urban areas, including cellular and internet services. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is the watchdog of the telecommunications in the country.
Premium-rate telephone numbers are telephone numbers that charge callers higher price rates for select services, including information and entertainment. A portion of the call fees is paid to the service provider, allowing premium calls to be an additional source of revenue for businesses. Tech support, psychic hotlines, and adult chat lines are among the most popular kinds of premium-rate phone services. Other services include directory enquiries, weather forecasts, competitions and ratings televoting. Some businesses, e.g. low-cost airlines, and diplomatic missions, such as the US Embassy in London or the UK Embassy in Washington, have also used premium-rate phone numbers for calls from the general public.
This is a list of dialing codes in Greece. The first digit represents the type of service. 1 is used for short codes, 2 for geographical numbers, 5 is used for inter-network routing purposes and VPNs, 6 for mobile services, 7 is reserved for universal access numbers, 8 for reduced-fee services, 9 is used for premium rate services. All dialable numbers are ten digits, except for short codes, 807-XXXX used for calling card access codes, and numbers in the 5 range, used for routing purposes and not dialable by end-subscribers.
A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing prefix similar to an area code. The specific service access varies by country.
A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reachable by a system of destination code routing. Telephone numbering plans are defined in each of the administrative regions of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and in private telephone networks.
In the United Kingdom, telephone numbers are administered by the Office of Communications (Ofcom). For this purpose, Ofcom established a telephone numbering plan, known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, which is the system for assigning telephone numbers to subscriber stations.
The Australian telephone numbering plan governs the allocation of telephone numbers in Australia. It has changed many times, the most recent major reorganisation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority taking place between 1994 and 1998.
Telephone numbers in Japan consist of an area code, an exchange number, and a subscriber number.
In Argentina, area codes are two, three, or four digits long. Local customer numbers are six to eight digits long. The total number of digits is ten, for example, phone number (11) 1234-5678 for Buenos Aires is made up of a 2-digit area code number and an 8-digit subscriber's number, while (383) 123-4567 would be an example of a Catamarca number.
Telephone numbers in Hong Kong are mostly eight-digit. Fixed land line numbers start with 2 or 3, mobile (cellular) phone numbers with 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, pager numbers with 7 and forwarding service with 8. Since the end of 1989, there have been no area codes within Hong Kong.
Numbers on the Irish telephone numbering plan are regulated and assigned to operators by ComReg.
936 140-35-67 dialling plan for mobile networks and new landline operators is closed; all subscriber numbers must be dialled in full. For landline numbers starting with 02, the dialling plan used to be open; the trunk digit and area code could be omitted if the caller was in the same area code as the callee. However, starting May 3, 2008, all landline numbers must be dialled in full.
Telephone numbers in Oceania use a variety of area codes to denote their location along with their own area code depending on the country's geographic makeup. They also have other prefixes to denote different types of mobile services and international calls. There are exceptions because of regional variations and time zones.
Telephone numbers in Indonesia have different systems for land lines and mobile phones: land lines use area codes, while mobile phones do not.
The Internet in South Africa, one of the most technologically resourced countries on the African continent, is expanding. The internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .za is managed and regulated by the .za Domain Name Authority (.ZADNA) and was granted to South Africa by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 1990. Over 60% of Internet traffic generated on the African continent originates from South Africa. As of 2020, 41.5 million people were Internet users.
Telephone numbers in Israel consist of an area code and a subscriber number. The dial plan type in Israel is closed, and "0" is the internal trunk prefix in Israel. Israel's country calling code is +972.
The regulation of telephone numbers in Germany is the responsibility of the Federal Network Agency of the German government. The agency has a mandate to telecommunications in Germany and other infrastructure systems.
National conventions for writing telephone numbers vary by country. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) publishes a recommendation entitled Notation for national and international telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and Web addresses. Recommendation E.123 specifies the format of telephone numbers assigned to telephones and similar communication endpoints in national telephone numbering plans.
Namibia's telephone numbering plan was originally devised when the country, then known as South West Africa, was under South African administration, and integrated into the South African telephone numbering plan.