Raising confidence in telephone numbers: Amending General Condition 17 | Ofcom

Raising confidence in telephone numbers: Amending General Condition 17 | Ofcom

This document covers the new 03 range and ammends the 070 (personal numbering) range.

From 1st Sept 2007 all 070 calls that are over 20p per minute must provide a pre-answer (and pre-billed) announcement to indicate the rate.

03 numbers will be introduced which are considered local numbers. There will be no revenue sharing allowed on these numbers (to the number provider or end-user service). The main advantage to consumers is that they will be treated as geographic numbers and can be included in call plans (on both fixed and mobile networks) and are subjected to the same discounts too.

Various 03 numbers are reserved for public bodies and not for profit organisations (mainly memorable numbers), though the range will be offered to anyone at a later date.

This is good news for consumers. The 070 pre-announcement will also reduce the chance of the numbers being used fraudulantly (as they look like mobile numbers). Eventually all 070 numbers will be phased away from 070 to a PRS range.