NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan plans to adopt its own country calling code from January 2023, reported the Minister of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry Bagdad Mussin.
Kazakhstan plans to adopt its own country calling code from January 2023. Photo credit: sunhome.ru.
As the Ministry clarified, Kazakhstan has reserved +997 in the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) to replace the +7 calling code, which also belongs to Russia.
After the new code assignment, the new and old codes will be able to be used simultaneously for two years. The full shift expects to be implemented in 2025.
“It’s symbolic that by the 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s Independence the Ministry has reserved a new calling code. Before we shared the same code with Russia, but now if you call abroad, “Kazakhstan” will be written on the screen. A complete shift to +997 will allow us to independently allocate the national numbering resource and expand the national system by number of subscribers and services,”Mussin wrote on Facebook.
At present, mobile network operators have designed the plan to shift the new country calling code on the Kazakh communication networks.
According to ITU-T’s regulations, the issue of Kazakhstan’s withdrawal from the 7-zone numbering will be discussed with the Russian Federal Communications Agency. After this procedure is completed, Kazakhstan will be assigned the +997 code.
