Archive for November, 2007

Earlier this year, Ofcom announced that the 0871 number range is planned to come under the regulation of PhonePay Plus (formerly ICSTIS) on the 1^st February 2008. However, due to a delay in the publication of the Code of Practice that will apply to this number range, the implementation of this regulation has also been delayed to later in 2008.

Some of the proposed changes to 0871 number range include;

• 0871 numbers will be treated as Premium Rate 09 numbers and therefore be regulated by PhonePay Plus
• Wherever 0871 numbers are displayed, the cost of the call (in pence per minute) must also be displayed
• In addition, for broadcast material, where calls will exceed 50p, the pence per minute rate would also need to be spoken as well as visually displayed
• Some services will require authorisation from PhonePay Plus, such as gambling lines and consumer credit services

TTNC has kept all customers informed about these proposed changes for the last 18 months and will continue to do so via emails and the News page and 0871 page in the TTNC main Web site – www.ttnc.co.uk

For more information about 0871 numbers please see;

0871 Numbers

Ofcom

PhonePay Plus

Earlier this year, Ofcom announced some major changes to the 0870 Number Range which were due to be implemented by the 1^st February, 2008

• There will no longer be any Call Revenue on 0870 numbers
• Mobile and Fixed-Line providers have to charge the same or less for 0870 calls as they do for National Rate Calls to UK Geographic Numbers (01 or 02).

Following an industry meeting last week, Ofcom have now advised TTNC and all other Operators that the date to implement these changes has slipped to later in 2008.

At the moment, it is unclear how long this delay may be, but it is likely to be in the region of 3 to 6 months.

The delay is linked to Health & Safety issues that have been identified in relation to the pre-call announcements which some Communication Providers were planning to provide to callers.

Mark Burcher of TTNC commented “We agree with Ofcom to delay the implementation of the proposed changes to 0870 numbers ranges, but in our view the proposed changes are not welcomed anyway, there are technical, financial and practical issues which we believe have still not been considered properly.”

Ofcom has written to TTNC and other Operators informing us that a critical development means that there will be a delay in implementing the changes to the regulation of calls to 0870 numbers, previously intended to take effect on 1^st of February 2008.

Operators and Ofcom have recently identified certain 0870 services, many of which protect human life and property, where the option to use pre-call announcements causes them to fail.

This potentially endangers the life and security of people who depend on the reliability of such services.

The problem relates to important alarm and security services which use automatic dialling systems and are often used to communicate directly with the Police and fire stations.

Industry estimates that there are hundreds of thousands of these services in use in the UK.

These systems eventually “time out” if a recognised phone signal is not heard. Use of a preannouncement may cause these safety services to fail with potentially catastrophic and life threatening consequences.