OFCOM changes to 0870 calls
OFCOM Ruling
OFCOM have announced that the rebate currently paid against 0870 numbers will shortly come to an end.
Ofcom Strategic Review
The anomaly in the 0870 pricing structure had attracted complaints from public and consumer lobbies and in the summer of 2005 OFCOM carried out a full Strategic Review of the use of NTS.
During this review Ofcom recognised that NTS has helped to develop a large number of useful services now available to UK customers. However, the review also raised a number of consumer concerns relating to whether NTS calls currently represent good value for money and the difficulties customers have in finding out how much these calls cost before making them.
After reviewing these issues in the mid 2006, OFCOM announced a number of changes to how 0870 numbers will work in the future.
- Ofcom will stop call revenue sharing on 0870 numbers at some point in time between April 2007 and January 2008.
(OFCOM will remove the regulatory support for revenue sharing by removing the 0870 range from the scope of the BT NTS Call Origination Condition.)
Please Note: OFCOM have delayed the changes due to issues with their implementation and the impact on some services, at present no timescale has been announced although the expectation is that a further announcement will be made in Spring 2008.
- OFCOM will require mobile and fixed-line providers to charge the same or less for 0870 calls as they do for national-rate calls to geographic numbers (starting 01 or 02).
The following table summaries the result of the review:
- End of 0870 revenue rebate (Jan 2008)
- New UK wide 03 number range (no revenue share)
- 0871 numbers will be regulated by ICSTIS (Jan 2008)
- 0844 No change to this number range
- 0845 Ofcom to review within 2 years
Please Note: OFCOM have delayed the changes due to issues with their implementation and the impact on some services, at present no timescale has been announced although the expectation is that a further announcement will be made in Spring 2008.
Links to OFCOM Documents
Find out more...
Summary
Background to 0870 numbers
OFCOM descision
Options available for 0870 numbers
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