ITU Assigns South Sudan Country Code 211

ITU that the Republic of South Sudan has been assigned the international dialing code 211. The move follows the country’s formal recognition as a UN Member State. The application for the 211 country code was made by the country’s Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services. The particular code represents the year in which South Sudan gained independence (2011), the date of its referendum (which took place in the first day of the first month of 2011).

On independence and after recognition by the UN General Assembly, a country may apply to ITU for a country code. ITU officials are said to have been in contact with South Sudanese officials since January 2011 to explain the procedures in the case of independence, which meant the country code could be pre-allocated and assigned as soon as the UN General Assembly gave South Sudan recognition.

The global country code numbering system is defined in an ITU standard known as ITU-T Recommendation E.164. ITU communicates this information to other Member States and the world’s telecommunication operators in a publication called the ITU Operational Bulletin, which will also detail the transitional numbering plan from the previous to the new country code. In addition to the country code, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan will be assigned a mobile country code (MCC) and a signalling area/network code (SANC). SANCs facilitate all telephone calls by indicating how calls should be routed.