Lably
Skip to content

Telephone numbers in South Africa

  • 5 min read
  • 2 chapters

Explore on Lably

ToursExplore Lably’s 3D tours

When dialed from another country, the national number is prefixed with the appropriate international access code and the telephone 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. However, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) had already allocated country code 264 in the late 1960s.

Following its independence, Namibia discontinued direct dialing from South Africa and replaced it with international dialing using country code 264. 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
After January 2007: 00 26461 xxx xxxx

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.

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.

Sign in to keep reading

One more chapter is free with a Lably account.

More in Cities

Washington, D.C.Capital city of the United StatesBerlinCapital and largest city of GermanyChicagoMost populous city in Illinois, USViennaCapital and largest city of AustriaPhiladelphiaMost populous city in Pennsylvania, USBostonCapital and largest city in Massachusetts, United States