Telkom (state-owned) is South Africa’s only land-line service provider. The network is extensive and covers all major and most minor areas of the country, but call charges are among the highest in the world.

To order a Telkom line, call 10219 (this number will only work from landlines) or visit http://www.telkom.co.za/. Keep in mind that like any other state-owned monopoly, Telkom is not particularly efficient. Sometimes new installations (adsl in particular) take months, and dealing with their call centre can be very frustrating.

To avoid high cost of international calls, use Skype.

Last updated: August 10, 2008