South Africans will have to change their dialling habits in less than two weeks, as the country switches to the 10-digit dialling system on 16 January.
Not only will callers have to dial 10 digits when making local calls, they will also have to replace "09" with "00" when making international calls.
The change is in line with the framework of the new numbering convention introduced by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) last year. The regulator earlier announced that the new framework will boost number capacity by 20% nationwide, adding two million lines.
Telkom has run a parallel dialling system since 16 October, enabling seven- and 10-digit dialling for local calls and "09" or "00" prefix-dialling for international calls.
However, as of later this month, seven-digit dialled local calls will be routed to an announcement requesting callers to dial all 10 digits when making local calls. Similarly, international calls dialled using "09" will also be routed to an announcement requesting callers to replace "09" with "00".
The routing of calls will continue until 16 March 2007, after which incorrectly dialled calls will be routed to a "number unavailable" tone.
While concerns have been raised about the effect the new system could have on business in SA, most industry insiders have downplayed any negative impact, saying that companies have been given enough time for the changeover to happen smoothly.
Telkom has indicated that the new system may see switchboards being re-programmed and companies that have barred international calls on their PABX system could be hugely impacted by the changes.
These systems will need to be reprogrammed to avoid users being able to make unauthorised international outgoing calls and customers may also have to reprogramme speed dials, to ensure they are saved in the 10-digit format.
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