Saint Helena country code +290 — call Saint Helena & get a number.
Roughly 1,200 miles from the nearest mainland, Saint Helena is one of the most isolated inhabited islands on the planet — and for years its phones depended on satellite until an undersea fibre cable finally reached it. Dial +290 from the US, UK or Europe, learn the island's short number plan and its single operator, and see how businesses claim a Saint Helena virtual number through MCM.
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Saint Helena at a glance
The numbers and facts you need before you dial.
What is the country code for Saint Helena?
Marooned in the South Atlantic between Africa and South America, Saint Helena is a British Overseas Territory best known as Napoleon's final place of exile — and it remains hard to reach in every sense.
Its country code is +290, and the numbers behind it are short by design, historically a flat 5-digit plan that suits a population of a few thousand. Add +290 after your exit code and the island is on the line.
Code +290 was assigned to Saint Helena by the ITU under the E.164 plan. The “+” means “dial your local international exit code”; on a mobile, press and hold 0 to type it.
All four mean the same thing — they connect your call to Saint Helena.
How to call Saint Helena from anywhere
It's about as short a string as international dialing gets: your exit code, +290, then the island's local number. No trunk prefix sits in the way, so there's nothing to strip out.
Full example: +290 +2902 XXX XXXX — drop the local leading 0 when calling from abroad.
Saint Helena phone number format explained
With only a few thousand lines to assign, Saint Helena never needed a long plan — historically a flat 5-digit national number with no area codes at all. Fixed and mobile numbers live side by side in that short range, told apart by their leading digits rather than by any geography.
Landline
Format +290 XXXXX. Fixed lines come from Sure South Atlantic, the island's sole provider.
Mobile
Format +290 XXXXX. Mobile service (2G/4G) arrived relatively recently via Sure, and mobile numbers draw from the same short national plan.
Saint Helena area codes — major cities
Drop the local leading 0 when calling from abroad.
| City | Region | Area code |
|---|---|---|
| Short national number | Fixed line | +2902 |
| Short national number | Mobile | +29056 |
Saint Helena mobile network prefixes
The prefix after +290 tells you which network issued the SIM — though number portability means it no longer guarantees the operator.
Sure South Atlantic (Sure SH)
Saint Helena time zone
Despite sitting far out in the South Atlantic, Saint Helena keeps Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), UTC+0, all year. There's no daylight saving here, so the island holds steady on UTC+0 while London springs forward and back around it.
Midday to late afternoon in Jamestown (12:00–16:00 GMT) lines up neatly with UK afternoons in winter — though British Summer Time pulls London an hour ahead of the island — and reaches the US East Coast in its morning.
Emergency numbers in Saint Helena
Free to call from any Saint Helena phone, landline or mobile.
Common mistakes when calling Saint Helena
Almost every failed international call is a formatting issue, not a network issue.
Reaching for +247 instead of +290
Ascension Island, Saint Helena's near neighbor in the territory, has its own separate code. +290 covers Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension is +247. Two specks in the same ocean, two different numbers.
Expecting a long string
the island's plan is short, historically just 5 digits, so don't assume you've lost part of it.
Searching for an area code
there isn't one; the whole island shares a single short plan.
Forgetting the island holds GMT year-round
during British Summer Time the gap to the UK opens by an hour.
Assuming a choice of carriers
Sure is the only operator on the island.
Tips to reduce the cost of calling Saint Helena
Lean on VoIP/SIP wherever you can
calls riding the island's long-haul connectivity have always carried a premium.
Hold a +290 virtual number so islanders reach you at a local rate instead of an international one.
Cluster calls into business hours to sidestep costlier off-peak handling.
For any real volume, route through a wholesale carrier rather than retail minutes.
Why businesses get a Saint Helena virtual number
Getting a foothold on one of the world's remotest islands once meant shipping in equipment and people. A +290 virtual number puts you on island lines without any of that — no hardware, no presence, no voyage.
Higher answer rates
Higher answer rates — on a small island, a recognizable +290 number gets answered where an overseas one doesn't.
Lower trust friction
Lower trust friction — a local code reads as part of the community, not an outside cold call.
Cheaper inbound
Cheaper inbound — islanders reach you at local rates, not the cost of an international leg.
Centralized routing
Centralized routing — pull every +290 call back to your team, wherever in the world it sits.
Faster expansion
Faster expansion — serve the territory without an office or a shipment of gear.
Real PSTN presence
Real PSTN presence — a genuine Saint Helena number, not a forwarding workaround.
Saint Helena virtual numbers with My Country Mobile
Carry Saint Helena voice over carrier-grade infrastructure — the kind of reliable backbone the island itself only recently gained through its undersea fibre link.
Local DIDs in major area codes — provisioned in minutes
Call forwarding to any mobile, landline, SIP endpoint, or softphone worldwide
HD voice with G.711, G.729, Opus & AMR-WB — auto-negotiated per call
Sub-150ms latency on major voice corridors via distributed PoPs
99.99% uptime SLA backed by geo-redundant infrastructure & sub-2s failover
WebRTC support for browser-based calling without softphone installs
REST APIs for provisioning, routing & call detail records (CDRs)
Built-in fraud protection with AI anomaly detection & STIR/SHAKEN
24/7 network monitoring and dedicated support
How to get your Saint Helena virtual number
Most businesses are live within hours, not days.
Pick Saint Helena (+290) and select a local number.
Verify your account and clear documentation.
Set routing, forwarding and IVR to your team.
Go live and start taking calls from the island.
Other country dialing guides
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Get a Saint Helena virtual number with MCM
Reach one of the world's remotest islands without leaving your desk — start free and hold a working +290 number in minutes.
Saint Helena +290 — FAQ
Just how remote is Saint Helena?expand_more
— It's one of the most isolated inhabited islands on Earth, roughly 1,200 miles from the nearest mainland in the South Atlantic — yet still reachable on a single code, +290.
Does +290 also cover Ascension Island?expand_more
— No. +290 covers Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island, in the same territory, uses its own code, +247.
Why are Saint Helena numbers so short?expand_more
— With only a few thousand lines to assign, the island never needed a long plan — historically a flat 5-digit national number.
Did the island always have good connectivity?expand_more
— No. For years it relied on satellite links; reliable broadband and voice came only after an undersea fibre cable reached the island fairly recently.
Is there more than one phone company on the island?expand_more
— No. Sure South Atlantic is the sole operator, handling landline, mobile, broadband and international links.
How do I call Saint Helena from the US?expand_more
— Dial 011, then 290, then the short local number — there's no trunk prefix to add.
What time is it on the island relative to London?expand_more
— Saint Helena sits on GMT (UTC+0) year-round, so it matches London in winter but runs an hour behind during British Summer Time.
Can I get a Saint Helena number without being on the island?expand_more
— Yes. MCM provisions local +290 virtual DIDs that route to your team anywhere in the world.