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The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan plans to switch the country to its own national international dialing code, the press service of the department reported. Instead of the telephone code +7, which is also assigned to Russia, Kazakhstan has reserved + 997 with the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

At the moment, a plan has been worked out with telecom operators to switch to a new international telephone code on the communication networks of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

“Kazakhstan will switch to its own national telephone code. It is symbolic that by the 30th anniversary of independence ICRIAP reserved a new telephone code +997 in the International Telecommunication Union. Earlier we shared the code +7 together with Russia, now, when you call from our country abroad, “Kazakhstan” will be displayed. A full transition to +997 will give us the opportunity to independently distribute the national numbering resource and expand the national system in terms of the number of subscribers and services, ”said Bagdat Musin, Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan.