012 (South Africa Calling Code)
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Country | South Africa |
| Continent | Africa |
| Regulator | ICASA |
| Type | Closed |
| Access codes | |
| Country calling code | +27 |
| International call prefix | 00 |
| Trunk prefix | 0 |
South Africa has switched to a closed numbering system. Within South Africa, from 16 January 2007 it became mandatory to dial the full 10 digit telephone number including the zero in the three-digit area code even for local calls (for example: 061). Area codes within the system are generally organised 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 initially 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.
Following its independence as Namibia, direct dialling from South Africa 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:
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.
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.
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