Communication of 21.IV.2022

The Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) , Gaborone, announces the updated national numbering plan of Botswana.

 

NATIONAL NUMBERING PLAN AND LIST OF NUMBERING RESOURCE ALLOCATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

 

DEFINITIONS

"Administration of Numbering Resources" means the set of activities associated with the Assignment, Designation, and the oversight and monitoring of Numbering Resources, whose Allocation is established in the Numbering Plan.

"Allocation" means the attribution of the purpose and quantitative capacity of sets of Numbering Resources established in Numbering Plan.

"Assignment" means the allotment of Numbering Resources previously allocated in a Numbering Plan for a given telecommunications service provider or end-user.

"Assignee" means a person (natural or legal) to whom an assignment of numbers is made.

"End user" means a person who utilizes telecommunications services by assigned numbering resources.

"Facilities-based Service Provider" means a service provider who owns and operates the telecommunications network facilities used in the provision of a specified service.

"Freephone" means telephone service whereby a subscribing organization can pay for the incoming calls made by its clients or customers.

"National Numbering Plan" means the identification of the framework for allocation of ordinary numbering blocks, carrier identification codes, short codes, and other unique numbering resources to different applications and categories of resource.

"Primary assignment" means the assignment of numbering resources by the BOCRA to individual companies and service providers.

"Public Land Mobile Network" means a combination of wireless communication services offered by a specific operator in a specific country.

"Public Switched Data Networks" means a publicly available network supporting packet-switched data, separate from the Public Switched Telephone Network.

"Public Switched Telephone Network" means is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telephone operators, providing infrastructure and services for public telecommunication.

"Secondary assignment" means the assignment of numbering resources by recipients of a primary assignment to their customers.

"Shared calls" means is the sharing of a phone number across multiple devices in different locations.

 

 

ACRONYMS

CRA Act             Communications Regulatory Authority Act

BOCRA               Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority

CRASA                Communications Regulators Association of Southern Africa

CC                        Country Code

DNIC                  Data Network Interface Codes

IoT                       Internet of Things

ISPC                     International Signalling Point Codes

M2M                  Machine to Machine

MNC                  Mobile Network Codes

MCC                   Mobile Country Code

MNO                   Mobile Network Operator

NCC                    Network Colour Codes

NSPC                   National Signalling Point Codes

NNP                    National Numbering Plan

PRS                     Premium Rate Services

PLMN                 Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN)

PSDN                  Public Switched Data Network

PSTN                   Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

SADC                   Southern Africa Development Community

SPC                      Signalling Point Code

USSD                   Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

VANs                 Value Added Network Service providers

VoIP                    Voice Over Internet Protocol

1.          INTRODUCTION

1.1        Section 38 of the Communications Regulatory Authority Act of 2012,  grants Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (the Authority or BOCRA) the mandate to maintain a Numbering Plan and other telecommunication numbering resources used in Botswana.

1.2        In fulfilling this statutory mandate, BOCRA is required to develop a National Numbering Plan (NNP) for the efficient use of the numbering resources of telecommunications services and ensure adherence to the plan regarding the allocations and assignments of the numbering resources to the service providers. To achieve this mandate BOCRA shall:

1.2.1    Ensure that the National Numbering Plan, where applicable, will ensure that it is compatible with relevant Numbering Plan Standards and Industry Guidelines, International Agreements, Standards and Recommendations.

1.2.2    Manage the National Numbering Plan Allocations and Assignments to ensure that there are enough numbers available to meet current and reasonably anticipated future demands of services.

1.2.3    Ensure that there is equity, efficiency and transparency in the allocation and primary assignment of numbers, and that costs to service providers and consumers are objectively justified.

2.          PURPOSE

The purpose of the National Numbering Plan is to ensure transparent, non-discriminatory and efficient use of numbers. This practice assures service providers and end-users of excellent provision and consumption of telecommunications services.

3.          BACKGROUND

3.1        The Authority adopts the numbering principles and procedures, in the form of administration of Numbering Policies, Numbering Plan Code of Conduct and Numbering Database that govern the way numbering resources are allocated and assigned. These administrative mechanisms promote fair and efficient allocation, assignment and use of numbering resources. These shall provide BOCRA and the Service Providers with a management platform and the end users with specific identification of their respective services in relation to the numbering plan.

4.          NATIONAL NUMBERING PLAN (NNP)

4.1        The National Numbering Plan is illustrated in Table 1.

              Table 1 is the matrix for allocation of all numbers, i.e., Fixed, Mobile, Short Codes, and other unique numbering resources. These are described in detail in the following sections.

Table 1: The National Numbering Plan

First digit	Second digit
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
0	Int’l	Short international dialling in region							0800 & 08XX
1	Short codes
2	NG	Geographic numbering (Francistown region)
3	NG	Geographic numbering  (Gaborone)
4	NG	Geographic numbering (Palapye region)
5	NG	Geographic numbering (south-east region)
6	NG	Geographic numbering (north and west regions)
7	Mobile numbering
8	Non-geographic numbering (M2M and Mobile)
9	PRS	91X	Reserved							99X

Int’l: international access code

NG: non-geographic numbering

PRS: premium rate services (non-geographic)

4.2        Unique Numbers and Short Code numbers

4.2.1    Level 0 – International Access and Freephone Numbers

               Levels 0 is used for international access ( 00 ), the freephone numbers commencing with 0800 and shared calls allocated the 08XX numbering range.

4.2.2    Levels 1 – Short Codes

               Level 1 is used for the Short Codes. Short codes are short telephone numbers classified into three categories being Types A, B and C.The numbers occupy the 1XX, 1XXX and 1XXXX number blocks, i.e., three or four- and five-digits long numbers. Refer to Table 2.

Table 2: Summary of Types of Short Codes

Short Code Types	Services and attributes	Length of number digits
Type A	Nationally important services including emergency numbers	3 digits long emergency services
Type B	Across net services, i.e., accessed through all public MNOs	5 digits long:16XXX, 17XXX, 18XX(X) and 19XXX number blocks.
Type C	On-Net services and can have same number for different services within the network.	10X(X), 11XX, 12X(X).

4.2.3    Level *1 and *2 – USSD codes

               The levels *1 and *2 are used for the USSD codes which currently occupy the *1XX*XXX# and *2XX*XXX# numbering blocks.

4.2.4    Levels 1 and 9 – Emergency Numbers

               Level 1 and part of level 9 is used for the emergency numbers.The emergency numbers occupy the 110-116, 99X and 91X numbering blocks. Reference is made to Table 3 below being a list of Emergency Service Providers.

Table 3: Assigned Emergency Numbers

Service Provider	Emergency Number
All Emergencies	112
ChildLine Botswana	116
Emergency Assist	991
MedRescue International	992
Rescue One	993
Boitekanelo Medical Services	994
Okavango Air Rescue	995
Fire	997
Ambulance	998
Police	999
MedRescue International	911
Medflex	914

4.2.5    Premium Rate Services

               The Premium Rate Services (PRS) in level 09 remains unused and remains reserved for this service. 

4.3        Fixed Numbers

4.3.1    Levels 2 to 6: Fixed numbers

               Level 2 to 6 are the seven (7) digits long geographical numbers occupying the numbering range from 2XX XXXX to 6XX XXXX respectively providing services to fixed line services. Reference is made to Table 4 below. These, however, excludes the following selected numbers on the second- and third-digit levels zero e.g., 200 0000, 300 0000, 460 0000, 530 0000, 680 0000 which are reserved.

Table 4: Fixed numbers by the geographical location

Geographical Area	Number range	Zone
Francistown Area	24X XXXX	4
Selebi-Phikwe Area	26X XXXX	4
Letlhakane/Orapa Area	29X XXXX	4
Gaborone Area	3XX XXXX	1
Serowe Area	46X XXXX	3
Mahalapye Area	47X XXXX	3
Palapye Area	49X XXXX	3
Ramotswa/Lobatse Area	53X XXXX	2
Barolong/Ngwaketse Area	54X XXXX	2
Mochudi Area	57X XXXX	2
Jwaneng Area	58X XXXX	2
Molepolole Area	59X XXXX	2
Kasane Area	62X XXXX	5
Ghanzi/Kgalagadi Area	65X XXXX	5
Maun Area	68X XXXX	5

4.4        VOIP NUMBERS

4.4.1    Level 7

               The level 7 range of 79 XXX XXX is allocated for VoIP numbering services.

4.5        MOBILE NUMBERS

4.5.1    Level 7 and 8

               Levels 7 and part of Level 8 are an eight digits long mobile number range from: 71 XXX XXX to 78 XXX XXX ; and 81 XXX XXX to 85 XXX XXX respectively.

4.6        MACHINE TO MACHINE COMMUNICATIONS (M2M)/IOT

4.6.1    Level 8

               The M2M communications is a 10 digit long numbering range that occupies numbering range from 86 XXXX XXXX to 89 XXXX XXXXX and supports the Internet of Things devices.

5.          OTHER NUMBERING RESOURCES

5.1        The other numbering resources that enable seamless communications services and these are the known as Codes reference is made to table 5 below. These codes are listed as in the Recommendation ITU‑T E.164.

Table 5: Instrumental Codes

Important Codes	Relevance and Use
Country Code (CC)	267
Mobile Country Code (MCC)	652
National Signalling Point Codes	network interconnection purposes
Data Network Interface Code (DNICs)	X25 data networking
Network Colour Codes (NCC)	GSM base station identifiers
Mobile Network Code (MNC)	Public networks
International Signalling Point Code (ISPCs)	International signalling and it uses a 3-8-3 ITU format standard.

5.2        Mobile Network Code

              There are three (03) Mobile Network Code (MNC) used in the networks of the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and these are allocated in accordance with the Recommendation ITU-T E.212. Reference is made to table 6 below.

Table 6: Mobile Network Codes

Mobile Network Codes	Mobile Network Operator
01	Mascom Wireless
02	Orange Botswana
04	BTCL

5.3        The International Signalling Point Codes

              These codes are used for the international signalling and are represented using a ITU 3-8-3 format. There are currently 6 spare ISPCs for Botswana. The following are assigned codes to Botswana for use as tabulated below.

Table 7: International Signalling Point Codes for Botswana

International Signalling Point Code (ITU 3-8-3 Format)	MNO Assigned
6-104-0	Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL)
6-104-1	Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL)
6-104-2	Mascom Wireless
6-104-3	Orange Botswana
6-104-4	Orange Botswana
6-104-5	Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL)
6-104-6	Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL)
6-104-7	Mascom Wireless
6-105-0	Mascom Wireless
6-105-1	Mascom Wireless
6-105-2	Spare
6-105-3	Spare
6-105-4	Spare
6-105-5	Spare
6-105-6	Spare
6-105-7	Spare

 

6.          NUMBERING ALLOCATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

6.1        Application for Number

6.1.1    All operators of a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), or a Public Switched Data Network(PSDN), providing, or intending to provide within a specified time, publicly available telephone services, and owning and operating a public telecommunication system, are eligible to apply for primary assignments of telephone numbering capacity, subject to satisfying an eligibility criterion specified in the Numbering Policy, Code of Conduct  and other relevant standard specifications such as the International Telecommunications Union’s ITU-T Recommendations.

6.1.2    Non-facilities-based service providers may seek a secondary assignment from an eligible service provider unless the Authority advises otherwise. However, secondary assignments shall be made in an efficient and non-discriminatory manner.

6.2        National Number Allocations

6.2.1    The table 8 shows the 8 digits active mobile number allocations across all the three MNOs.

Table 8: Mobile Number Allocations as of March 2022

Mobile Network Operator	Mobile Number Range	Quantity Allocated
Mascom Wireless	71 000 000 – 71 999 999 74 000 000 – 74 299 999 74 500 000 – 74 799 999 75 400 000 – 75 699 999 75 900 000 – 75 999 999 76 000 000 – 76 299 999 76 600 000 – 76 799 999 77 000 000 – 77 199 999 77 600 000 – 77 799 999 77 800 000 – 77 899 999	1,000,000 300,000 300,000 300,000 100,000 300,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 100,000
Orange Botswana	72 000 000 – 72 999 999 74 300 000 – 74 499 999 74 800 000 – 74 899 999 75 000 000 – 75 399 999 75 700 000 – 75 799 999 76 300 000 – 76 599 999 76 900 000 – 76 999 999 77 300 000 – 77 599 999 77 900 000 – 77 999 999 78 000 000 – 78 199 999	1,000,000 200,000 100,000 400,000 100,000 300,000 100,000 300,000 100,000 200,000
Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL)	73 000 000 – 73 999 999 74 900 000 – 74 999 999 75 800 000 – 75 899 999 76 800 000 – 76 899 999 77 200 000 – 77 299 999	1,000,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000

 

6.2.2    The table 9 below shows the 8 digits active VoIP numbering allocations made to both the MNOs and the VANs:

Table 9: VoIP Numbers as of March 2022

Service Provider	VoIP Number range
Virtual Business Network Services	79 100 000 – 79 100 999
AfriTel	79 101 000 – 79 101 999
Global Broadband Solutions	79 102 000 – 79 102 999
Business Solutions Consultants	79 103 000 – 79 103 999
Dimension Data	79 104 000 – 79 104 999
OPQ Net	79 105 000 – 79 105 999
Mega Internet	79 106 000 – 79 106 999
Stature (OpenVoice)	79 107 000 – 79 107 999 79 113 000 – 79 113 999
Tsagae Communications	79 108 000 – 79 108 999
MicroTeck Enterprises	79 109 000 – 79 109 999
Microla Botswana	79 110 000 – 79 110 999
Internet Options Botswana	79 111 000 – 79 111 999
FDI Foneworx	79 112 000 – 79 112 999
Stature (Pty) Ltd t/a OpenVoice	79 113 000 – 79 113 999
MTN Business Solutions	79 114 000 – 79 114 999
Abari Communications	79 115 000 – 79 115 999
Mission Communications	79 116 000 – 79 116 999
ConceroTel	79 117 000 – 79 117 999
Paratus Africa	79 118 000 – 79 118 999
Blue Pearl Communications T/A ROI	79 119 000 – 79 119 999
Dapit Ventures T/A GCSat Botswana	79 120 000 – 79 120 999
Bantu Telecom	79 121 000 – 79 121 999
Paratus Africa	79 122 000 – 79 123 999
Netway Pty Ltd	79 124 000 – 79 125 999
Apicom Pty Ltd	79 126 000 – 79 126 999
Devaki Botswana	79 127 000 – 79 127 999
Orange Botswana	79 200 000 – 79 209 999 79 220 000 – 79 229 999
Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL)	79 210 000 – 79 219 999
Mascom Wireless	79 230 000 – 79 279 999

Note : Noncoloured ranges are lincesed SAP and NFP.

6.2.3    The table 10 below shows the 10 number digits active Machine-to-Machine number allocations:

Table 10: M2M Number Allocations as of March 2022

Mobile Netork Operator	M2M Number range
Orange Botswana	890 000 0000 – 89 0000 9999 89 0001 0000 – 89 0001 9999 89 0002 0000 – 89 0002 9999 89 0003 0000 – 89 0003 9999 89 0004 0000 – 89 0004 9999
Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL)	890 005 0000 – 89 0005 9999 89 0006 0000 – 89 0006 9999 89 0007 0000 – 89 0007 9999 89 0008 0000 – 89 0008 9999
Mascom Wireless	89 0010 0000 – 89 0010 9999 89 0011 0000 – 89 0011 9999 89 0012 0000 – 89 0012 9999 89 0013 0000 – 89 0013 9999 89 0014 0000 – 89 0014 9999 89 0015 0000 – 89 0015 9999 89 0016 0000 – 89 0016 9999 89 0017 0000 – 89 0017 9999

Note : ALL Allocations made in blocks of 10,000 numbers

 

6.2.4    The table 11 below shows the 7 number digits active Fixed number allocations:

Table 11: Fixed Number Allocations as of March 2022

Number Blocks	Orange Botswana	Mascom Wireless	BTCL
2XX XXXX	–	60,000	300,000
3XX XXXX	–	60,000	500,000
4XX XXXX	–	30,000	300,000
5XX XXXX	–	60,000	500,000
6XX XXXX	–	30,000	300,000
Sub-Total	–	240,000	1,900,000

7.          CONCLUSION

7.1        The National Numbering Plan is a way of ensuring that:

7.1.1    The limited numbering resources are used prudently and efficiently and this allows for effective number management. This exercise enables customers to have access to services using numbers without undue expense and inconvenience, and to ensure that all service providers have the numbering resources they need to compete in the rapidly growing telecommunications marketplace with the associated proliferation of new telecommunications technologies and services; and

7.1.2    There is equity, efficiency, and transparency in the allocation of numbers as this is done objectively within the confines of the CRA Act of 2012.

Communication of 27.IV.2022

The Telecommunication Authority of the Faroe Islands , Tórshavn, announces the assignment on 27 April 2022 of the "+298 96xxxx" numbering series for GSM Mobile Services. This series is assigned to the operator " P/F FT Samskifti ".

The assignment of numbers can be consulted on the following Faroese Telecommunication Authority web page (see file Nummarætlan.xls ): http://www.fjarskiftiseftirlitid.fo/fo/fjarskifti/nummarskipan/.