South Sudan gets country code

By Conan Businge

SOUTH SUDAN has now got its own country code, which went live over the weekend, two months ahead of the scheduled deadline for switchover. 

 The country code, +211, (Republic of South Sudan) went live October 1, 2011. It had initially been planned to be switched on, in December.

The South Sudan minister for Telecom and Postal Services Major General Madut Biar Yel, “Just like a national flag, the country-code is a national monument that will live with many generations to come in the future.”

 “It is no doubt (that it is one) one of the strongest symbols of our sovereignty, freedom and independence, and the full recognition by the whole world of South Sudan as a Full Member of the Community of Nations.”

South Sudan became a Republic July 9, 2011 after voting to secede from Sudan in January this year. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) granted South Sudan the +211 dialling code in July this year, but it had not come live.
Previously, most of South Sudan's telecom operators were relying on Sudan's +249 dilling code. South Sudan currently has three mobile operators, Vivacell, Gemtel and Zain.

The minister added that, “today even in some of the very remotest villages of South Sudan you can make a phone call is itself a clear testimony that with the continued cooperation and partnership of all major actors, including the private sector, even the said challenges can be overcome as today attests.”

Biar Yel added that as the dynamics of the global and regional economies evolve, information and communication has become an indispensible pillar for competitiveness as well as a growth-engine.

“South Sudan has to play catch-up with the global trends, and today marks a major milestone.

“It is our declared policy to promote investment, private sector development, and to espouse partnerships that are recognised as important elements in meeting the Millennium Development Goals,” he explained. 

The shift involves swapping the Subscriber Identification Module SIM card to a new one.