South African Telephone Numbering Plan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South Africa has switched to a closed numbering system. As of 16 January 2007 it will be mandatory to dial the full 10 digit telephone number including the three-digit area code even for local calls. The trunk prefix is still '0', with the system generally organised geographically. All telephone numbers are 10 digits long (including the 3 for area code), except for certain Telkom special services. When dialed from another country, the '0' is omitted and replaced with the appropriate international access code.

Numbers were initially allocated when South Africa had four provinces, meaning that ranges are now split across the current nine provinces.

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

010: New overlay announced for Johannesburg (proposed November 2001-not in use)
011: Witwatersrand region around Johannesburg, currently code for entire Greater Johannesburg
012: Tshwane region: Pretoria and surrounding towns (also includes Brits in the North West Province)
013: Western and northern Mpumalanga: Middelburg, Witbank and Nelspruit
014: Northern North West and Southwestern Limpopo: Rustenburg and Nylstroom
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: Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp

02: Western and Northern Cape:

021: Cape Town metropole and surrounds, including Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Gordons Bay
022: Boland and West Coast: Malmesbury
023: Worcester and greater Karoo, including Beaufort West
024: Somerset West (Became 021 in 1996)
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: Stanger
033: Pietermaritzburg and KwaZulu-Natal Midlands
034: Vryheid, Newcastle and Northern KZN
035: Zululand region: St. Lucia, Richards Bay
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
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: Currently unused. Was South-West Africa (now Namibia) until 1992, when direct dialling was discontinued. and replaced by international dialling 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

07: Cellular

072: Vodacom (spill-over from 082)
073: MTN (spill-over from 083)
0741: Virgin Mobile as of June 2006 [1]
076: Vodacom (spill-over from 082)
078: MTN (spill-over from 083)
079: Vodacom (spill-over from 082)

08: Special services

080: Toll-free
081: Current unused (?), was car phones
082: Cellular: Vodacom
083: Cellular: MTN
084: Cellular: Cell C
085: Cellular: Reserved for a 4th operator and for USAL license holders
086: "Sharecall" and premium-rate services
0866: Premium-rated Fax to email service
087: Value-added services (VoIP [2] among others)
088: Pagers and Telkom voicemail
089: Maxinet, for polls and radio call-in services

Note that since 10 November 2006, mobile number portability was introduced in the cellular market. The cellular prefixes as above is therefore not applicable anymore although mostly still the same.

09: International access code being phased out.

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


There are still some non-automated exchanges which use longer dialing codes, mostly for 'Farm Lines' and remote areas with operator assisted exchanges.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
South African topics
History Cape Colony · Apartheid · Foreign relations · Nuclear programme
Geography Towns · Cities · National parks · Postal codes · Telephone codes
Politics Constitution · Political parties · Elections · Provinces · Municipalities · Military · Police
Culture South African English · Art · Cinema · Cuisine · Islam · Literature · Music · Poets · Public holidays · Television (TV series)  · Scouts
Other Notable South Africans · HIV/AIDS · Communications · Transport · Companies
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/o/u/South_African_Telephone_Numbering_Plan_88c7.html"