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Telephone numbers in South Africa
	Location of South Africa (dark green)
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.

Background

History

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

Namibia

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:

Before 1992: 061 xxx xxxx

After 1992: 09 26461 xxx xxxx^[3]

After January 2007: 00 26461 xxx xxxx^[4]

Lesotho

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]

Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe

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: Mahikeng, 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: KwaZulu-Natal South Coast region: Port Shepstone and interior, and Eastern Pondoland (in Eastern Cape)

04

Eastern Cape and eastern parts of the Western Cape:

040: Bhisho

041: Gqeberha 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)

Cellular^[7]

0600: Cellular: Used by Liquid Telecommunications (South Africa)

0601 - 0602: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)

0603 - 0605: Cellular: Used by MTN

0606 - 0609: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

061: 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 - 0654: Cellular: Used by Cell C

0655 - 0657: Cellular: Used by MTN

0658 - 0659: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)

066: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

0670 - 0672: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA^[8]

0673 - 0675: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

0676 - 0679: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)

0680 - 0685: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)

0686 - 0689: Cellular: Used by MTN

0690: Cellular: Used by MTN

0691 - 0699: 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

0741: Cellular: Used by: Virgin Mobile as of June 2006 to September 2021^[9]

076: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

0771 - 0775: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

078: Cellular: Used by MTN

079: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

08

Cellular

0810: Cellular: Used by MTN

0811 - 0815: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)

0816: Cellular: Used by Rain

0817: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)

0818: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

0819: Cellular: Used by TelkomSA (8.ta)

082: Cellular: Used by Vodacom

083: Cellular: Used by MTN

084: Cellular: Used by Cell C

Special Services

080: FreeCall, Toll-free, called party pays

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^[10]

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 [1] among others)

088: Fax Divert, 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.

09X XXX XXX (Premium-rate and machine-related numbers)

090: Premium-rate services^[7]^[11]

0902: Premium-rated adult services^[12]^[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.

09X XXX XXXX numbers are no longer in use in South Africa.