South Africa’s new telephone and cellphone number codes

South Africa’s telecommunications networks have been assigned several additional number ranges in the past few years.

These most recently assigned dialling codes are mainly in the 06 range, where there were still a few number ranges available.

Phone numbers in South Africa are assigned to network operators according to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) National Numbering Plan Regulations.

Except for shortcodes and some machine-related numbers, like those used in point-of-sale (POS) devices and bulk SMS services, phone numbers in South Africa contain ten digits.

Numbers are divided into two main categories — geographic and non-geographic.

Fixed services, such as legacy telephone lines and voice over IP services, are allocated geographic numbers, with the first three digits starting between 010 and 058.

This generally indicates the geographic location of the phone line. However, number portability means this is no longer always the case.

Mobile and other non-geographic services use the number ranges from 060 to 098.

These numbers are assigned in blocks to specific operators or services.

Initially, it was easy to identify which mobile operator someone was on from the number they had.

Vodacom was 082, MTN was 083, and Cell C received 084 when it launched.

As their number ranges depleted, they received 072, 073, and 074, respectively.

When Telkom Mobile (then 8ta) launched in 2010, it received a portion of the 081 range.

However, things have become increasingly fragmented over the years as South Africa’s operators needed additional numbers.

The advent of number portability also means there is no guarantee that someone using a 082 number is still on the Vodacom network.

With the increased demand for numbers, Icasa recently proposed new rules for recycling inactive numbers.

Under its proposed regulations, a number will be deemed inactive if it hasn’t taken any revenue-generating action for 60 days.

Operators must then warn the subscriber that their number is about to be quarantined and recycled.

A number must be kept in quarantine for 30 calendar days, during which subscribers can reactivate it.

Icasa also wants to create a process for subscribers to pay operators to keep their number without performing any revenue-generating activity on it.

However, the exact details of this must still be hashed out, and the regulator is gathering feedback from stakeholders on its proposal.

The table below summarises South Africa’s current number range assignments.