Telephone numbers in South Africa

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.

South Africa telephone numbers
Location of South Africa (dark green)
Location
CountrySouth Africa
ContinentAfrica
RegulatorIndependent Communications Authority of South Africa
TypeClosed
NSN length9
Typical format(AB) xxx-xxxx
Numbering planNumbering Plan Regulations
Last updatedMarch 24, 2016
Access codes
Country calling code+27
International call prefix00
Trunk prefix0

Numbers were allocated when South Africa had 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 by international dialing with the +264 country code. For example, for a call from South Africa to Windhoek, before and after 1992:

Before 1992: 061 xxx xxxx
After 1992: 09 26461 xxx xxxx[3]
After Jan 2007: 00 26461 xxx xxxx[4]

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]

Number ranges

00: International access code effective from 16 October 2006 and mandatory from 16 January 2007.

01: The old Transvaal province, currently comprising Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and part of the North West:

010: New overlay plan for Johannesburg
011: Witwatersrand region around Johannesburg, currently code for the entirety of Greater Johannesburg
012: Pretoria and surrounding towns (also includes Brits)
013: Eastern Gauteng (Bronkhorstspruit) and Western and northern Mpumalanga: Middelburg, Witbank and Nelspruit
014: Northern North West and Southwestern Limpopo: Rustenburg and Modimolle
015: Northern and Eastern Limpopo: Polokwane
016: Vaal Triangle: Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg, which constitutes an anomaly, since Sasolburg isn't the old Transvaal.
017: Southern Mpumalanga: Ermelo
018: Southern North West: Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp

02: Western and Northern Cape:

021: Cape Town metropole and surrounds, including Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Gordon's Bay
022: Boland and West Coast: Malmesbury
023: Worcester and greater Karoo, including Beaufort West
027: Namaqualand (Northern Cape): Vredendal, Calvinia, Clanwilliam, Springbok, Alexander Bay, Port Nolloth
028: Southern region: Swellendam and Caledon / Hermanus region.

03: KwaZulu-Natal:

031: Durban
032: KZN North coast region: Verulam, Tongaat, Ballito and Stanger
033: Pietermaritzburg and KwaZulu-Natal Midlands
034: Vryheid, Newcastle and Northern KZN
035: Zululand region: St. Lucia, Richards Bay, Ulundi
036: Drakensberg region: Ladysmith
039: South coast: Port Shepstone and interior, and Eastern Pondoland (in Eastern Cape)

04: Eastern Cape and eastern parts of the Western Cape:

040: Bhisho
041: Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage
042: Southern region: Humansdorp
043: East London and surrounds
044: Garden Route, including Oudtshoorn, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Mossel Bay and George
045: Central region: Queenstown
046: Southern region: Grahamstown, Bathurst, Port Alfred, Kenton-on-Sea
047: Mthatha / most of previous Transkei
048: Northern region: Steynsburg
049: Western region: Graaff-Reinet

05: Free State and Northern Cape

051: Central and southern region: Bloemfontein, and Aliwal North in E Cape
053: Kimberley, eastern part of Northern Cape, far west of NW province
054: Upington, Gordonia region
056: Northern Free State: Kroonstad
057: Northern Free State: Welkom (Goldfields region)
058: Eastern Free State: Bethlehem

06: Cellular[7]

0603 - 0605: Cellular: Used by MTN
0606 - 0609: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
0610 - 0613: Cellular: Used by Cell C
0614: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
0615 - 0619: Cellular: Used by Cell C
062: Cellular: Used by Cell C
0630 - 0635: Cellular: Used by MTN
0636 - 0637: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
0640: Cellular: Used by MTN
0641 - 0645: Cellular: Used by Cell C
0646 - 0649: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
0650 - 0653: Cellular: Used by Cell C
0654: Cellular: Used by Lycamobile SA (Cell C entered into an MVNO deal with Lycamobile in August 2017)[8]
0655 - 0657: Cellular: Used by MTN
0658 - 0659: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
0660 - 0665: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
0670 - 0672: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA[9]
0673 - 0675: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
0676 - 0679: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
0680 - 0685: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)

07: Cellular

0710: Cellular: Used by MTN
0711 - 0716: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
0717 - 0719: Cellular: Used by MTN
072: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
073: Cellular: Used by MTN
074: Cellular: Used by Cell C (Cell C has allocated 0741 to Virgin Mobile)
0741: Cellular: Used by: Virgin Mobile as of June 2006[10]
076: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
078: Cellular: Used by MTN
079: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

08: Cellular

0810: Cellular: Used by MTN
0811 - 0815: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
0816: WBS Mobile (Vodacom and MTN both have terminated SMS interconnect with WBS so SMS messages to/from this number range are not relayed)
0817: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)
0818: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
082: Cellular: Used by Vodacom
083: Cellular: Used by MTN
083-9: Cellular rates to Telkom lines, reroutes call to a telkom line and pays number owner for received calls
084: Cellular: Used by Cell C

08: Special services

080: FreeCall, Toll-free, called party pays
083-9: Cellular rates to Telkom lines, reroutes call to a telkom line and pays number owner for received calls
085: Cellular: USAL license holders - Vodacom and MTN have some prefixes out of this range for their USAL offerings
086: Sharecall, MaxiCall and premium-rate services, calls can be routed to regional offices automatically
0860: Sharecall Land line callers pay local call, called party pays long distance if applicable
0861: MaxiCall caller always pay long distance for call even if routed to local office
0862 - 9: Premium rate caller pays increasing rate linked to last digit[11]
0862, 0865, 0866, 08673, 08774, 08676: Fax to Email caller always pay increasing rate linked to last digits
08622, 086294: Competition lines caller always pay premium rate
08671 - 08674: Information services caller always pay increasing rate linked to last digit
087: Value-added services (VoIP among others)
088: Pagers and Telkom CallAnswer voicemail
089: Maxinet, for polls and radio call-in services

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.

09: Premium rate and machine related numbers[12][7]

090: Premium rate services
0902: Premium rated adult services[13][7]
091: Premium rate services
092: Premium rate services
096: Machine related services (14-digit numbers)
097: Machine related services (14-digit numbers)
098: Machine related services (14-digit numbers)

There are still some non-automated exchanges which use longer dialing codes, mostly for "farm lines" and remote areas with operator assisted exchanges.

gollark: This allows indirect censorship via uncomfort which I don't like.
gollark: I disagree.
gollark: ... yes? How do you think all osmarks.net services ever work?
gollark: Of what?
gollark: Please do not false-dichotomize.

References
  1. South West Africa & Walvis Bay - Suidwes-Afrika & Walvisbaai, lolDepartment of Posts and Telecommunications, 1976
  2. White Book, Volume 2, Part 1, International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee, International Telecommunication Union, 1969, page 29
  3. Official South African Municipal Yearbook, S.A. Association of Municipal Employees, 1995, page 1161
  4. The phone book: Cape peninsula, Telkom, Universal Web Printers, 2007, page 49
  5. Lesotho, David Ambrose, Winchester Press, 1983, page 846
  6. Pretoria Telephone Directory, Department of Posts and Telecommunications, 1991, page 21
  7. "INDEPENDENT COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY OF SOUTH AFRICA" (PDF). Government Gazette. 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  8. "Lycamobile enters South Africa telecoms market with Cell C deal". www.out-law.com. Retrieved 2017-09-12.
  9. https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/283477-the-difference-between-082-072-and-062-cellphone-numbers-in-south-africa.html
  10. Virgin Mobile South Africa
  11. "TELKOM SA LTD TELKOM TARIFF LIST 1 August 2009" (PDF). Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  12. "New numbers for machines, premium rated services". Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  13. "Phone sex services to get new number range in South Africa". Retrieved 2018-08-16.
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