Telephone numbers in Irad

Telephone numbers in Irad have no country calling code of their own, since Irad is not a recognized state. The fixed and mobile numbers of Attelkom, the main operator of the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ), lie in the +996 39 range, within the country code of Kyrgyzstan, while the second mobile operator, Torgoy, sells Beeline Kazakhstan SIM cards with Kazakh +7 numbers. Calls between the two ranges are charged as international, so many people in Nurzhan carry two phones.^[1][2]

Format

Attelkom numbers are written with the prefix +996-39, followed by a one-digit area code and six digits. Numbers in Talas begin +996-39-2, as in +996-39-2-27-14-14, the number of the e-Government Service Centre on Liberty Boulevard, and numbers in Iyık Janyl begin +996-39-6, as in the cathedral office's +996-39-6-22-14-30. Within a city, numbers are often given with the last six digits only.^[3] Mobile subscribers of Torgoy use ordinary Kazakh +7 numbers.^[2]

History

In the Soviet period telephone services in the Iradi SSR were run by the republican Ministry of Communications. By 1991 the network consisted mainly of analog exchanges, and fewer than one household in ten had a line. Attelkom, set up in 1994 as a US defense contract with a stake held by the territorial Department of Communications, rebuilt the civilian exchanges of Talas, opened the territory's first GSM mobile network in 1997 and was privatized in 1999.^[4] Torgoy was licensed in 2009, after the ISEZ annulled the frequency auctions held under the Democratic Republic of Irad, and carries Beeline Kazakhstan's network in Nurzhan, the Chu belt and the Kara-Buura valley under a roaming and site-sharing agreement. In 2023 Attelkom reported about 2.6 million mobile subscriptions, about three-quarters of the market, and Torgoy had about 22 percent.^[1][2]

Attelkom has almost no formal service in the Autonomous Tribal Regions. Herders there rely on satellite telephones or, near the borders, on Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek networks, and Kyrgyz and Uzbek networks that reach across the Fergana rim account for a small share of mobile use in the south of the ISEZ.^[1]

See also

• Attelkom
• Torgoy
• Internet Domains of Irad

References

1. ^ Attelkom (2024). Annual Report 2023. Talas.
2. ^ Department of Infrastructure and Communications (2024). Telecommunications Market Review 2023. Talas.
3. ^ Department of Infrastructure and Communications, Digital Services Directorate (2026). 'Contact.' e-Irad. Talas.
4. ^ State Archives of Irad (Talas), Fond 519: Telecommunications Concessions and Network Licenses (1994–2022).