Business Telephone Numbers
Ofcom will announce its judgement to make dramatic changes to non geographic telephone numbers by Christmas 2008. It's crucial that you have the knowledge to make the right business decisions in accordance with the rulings to be announced.
The main changes to telephone numbers that you will be faced with are that of 0871 regulation and 0870 revenue share. Both may impinge significantly on your business, yet even if you don't already use any type of NGN it's worth ensuring that you're aware of your options for the future.
Ofcom's modifications to phone numbers are being made in order to address public concerns of call centre waiting times, deceptive marketing and ambiguous pricing.
Click on the links below to find out more about the latest Ofcom changes.
Business Telephone Numbers
Please contact us now for more information about business telephone numbers, the availability of business numbers, their cost, call costs and other call charges.
03 Telephone Numbers
03 numbers are relatively new in the market and businesses and consumers awareness of their costs and operational impact is low.
0844 - Calls will cost the caller from 2p - 5p per minute. The receiving company will receive a revenue, the amount will be largely governed by the cost to the caller.
03 - Predominantly for Government and not-for-profit organisations.
Call cost to be the same as national-rate geographic numbers.
Corresponding 0344, 0345, 0370, 0371
0800 / 0808 / 0500 Free Phone Numbers
0800 / 0808 / 0500 free phone numbers are widely known to be free of charge to callers and the recipient pays for the calls. Ofcom are not expected to make any changes to these numbers in the short to medium future.
0844 Telephone Numbers
0844 numbers are relatively new in the market and businesses and consumers awareness of their costs and operational impact is low.
0844 - Calls will cost the caller from 2p - 5p per minute. The receiving company will receive a revenue, the amount will be largely governed by the cost to the caller.
03 - Predominantly for Government and not-for-profit organisations.
Call cost to be the same as national-rate geographic numbers.
Corresponding 0344, 0345, 0370, 0371
0845 Lo-Call Rate Numbers
For 0845 lo-call rate numbers you currently are paying approximately 2.5p per minute to dial a lo-call rate number Ofcom has plans to make similar changes to the 0845 number range as it is proposing to do to the 0870 numbers. If this is so, the receiving company will have to pay to take your call and the caller will only pay the cost of a normal local call from the network they are using i.e. mobile or land line network.
Numbers will remain the same You may find that a lot of companies will wish to change their numbers to 0800 / 0845 / 0871 / 0844 / 03 numbers
0870 National Rate Numbers
You will be able to dial and use all 0870 numbers exactly as you do now.
Rather than paying the current rate of 6p -7.5p that you are paying now, this may be reduced to the standard rate of a national call charged by your landline or mobile provider (depending on which phone you are calling from). For some companies and members of the public the cost of your calls could be reduced over 5 fold.
All of the published 0870 numbers will remain the same, but you may find that a lot of companies will wish to change their numbers to 0800 / 0845 / 0871 / 0844 / 03 numbers
If you have a 0870 number you can do one or a combination of the following:
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Use 0800 numbers instead if you have to bear the cost anyway and improve the customer experience
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Do nothing and hope that nothing will happen - high risk if you cannot endure the potential action Ofcom are advocating, but there is a chance that Ofcom will back peddle on this or scale down the extent of the changes
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Move to 0845 numbers. This is one route, but Ofcom are potentially threatening similar actions on par with 0870 numbers, so you could incur a lot of costs for a change only to have to do it again in the not too distant future.
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0871. Caller pays 10ppm. Downside is that this is going to be governed by ICSTIS, which means full PRS applications need to be made, including Directors guarantees, strict regulation and constraints on advertising promotions.
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0844 or 0843. This is the most popular, mainly because no changes are expected for at least another 6-10 years, no call charges are incurred to the business, and there are 4 different charge rates that the consumer will have to pay. 2, 3p, 4p, 5p. Many businesses have taken the view that the callers will not know the difference between the charge bands and always think they will be charged 5p regardless of what they are actually being charged. As a result a lot of businesses have plumbed for the 5ppm 0844 numbers. Our advice would be to purchase new 0844 numbers with the same numbers after the 0844 prefix. This way the transition will be slightly easier to remember for your staff and customers alike.
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As an interim measure whilst consumers still have 0870 numbers in the market place, put a redirect with a message providing the new number whilst the call is on hold or being re-directed to the call centre. Or just leave a message requesting callers to call back on a different number.
0871 Revenue Numbers
For 0871 Revenue Numbers you will pay call costs (up to 10ppm). This will mean that the company you are calling is receiving a revenue share on your call. Often this revenue share is used to pay for the operation of the call centre and its associated technologies.
0871's will be regulated by PhonePay Plus (formerly known as ICSTIS the governing body of premium rate numbers)- it is quite possible that advertising rights will be restricted, so you will be better informed of the charges associated to you and the directors of the business will be personally responsible for good business practice of these lines.
You may find that a lot of companies will wish to change their numbers to 0800 / 0845 / 0871 / 0844 / 0843 numbers
