0800 Numbers Free for Mobile Phone Users

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Ofcom have announced a new campaign which expects to make pricing clearer for service numbers, as well as make 0800 numbers free for mobile phone users from summer 2015.

Ofcom and the UK telephone industry are working together on a new consumer information campaign.

The six-month national campaign is planned to launch in January 2015, under the banner ‘UK Calling’.

It will explain two important changes coming into effect on the same day in summer 2015:

  • Clearer call rates for 08, 09 and 118 calls – Consumers calling service numbers will see the cost split out into an ‘access charge’ going to their phone company, plus a ‘service charge’ set by the company or organisation they are calling. Phone companies will be responsible for setting their access charge, making it clear to consumers on their bills and informing new customers of the charge when they sign up to a contract.
  • Freephone calls becoming free from all mobiles – Freephone numbers which begin 0800 or 0808 will become free for consumers to call from mobile phones, just as they generally are from landlines.

“For a long time there has been a lack of transparency in the cost of calling 08, 09 and 118 numbers,” said Ed Richards, Chief Executive of Ofcom. “These changes will be very significant for UK telephone customers, and are designed to help build consumers’ confidence in using the full range of phone services.”

David Hickson

“For us, the most important aspect of the proposal is that those who wish to retain the imposition of a “Service Charge”, through use of 084/087 numbers, will be compelled to declare – and thereby, have to justify – this charge,” said David Hickson of the Fair Telecoms Campaign. “No longer will companies be able to simply refer to the vagaries of telephone tariffs, with indications of possible call costs; they will have to declare the Service Charge that they have chosen to impose.”

 

Author: Megan Jones

Published On: 24th Sep 2014 - Last modified: 12th Dec 2018
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