Non-geographic Telephone Numbers in The United Kingdom - Prefixes

Prefixes

Hundreds of UK companies offer NGNs for sale or rent. Some also offer switchboard and call centre equipment in a package. Different prefixes have different costs for user and caller. Many prefixes allow revenue share by charging the caller a "premium". Revenue share is banned on several prefixes, including 03 (UK wide), 0870 (NTS) and 070 (PNS).

Numbers starting 090 and 091 are Premium Rate Services (PRS), generally the highest costs, and heavily regulated by PhonepayPlus. New "adult" services (SES) must use 098; legacy 0908 and 0909 numbers also carry these services.

Numbers which begin 084 and 087 generally cost more than calling an 01 or 02 geographic number from a landline, are rarely included in "inclusive" minutes call packages, and cost up to 45 pence per minute from mobiles. The price for calling 084 and 087 numbers includes a small "premium". This premium is passed on from the callers telecoms company to the called-party telecoms company who in turn may either pass part of it on to the called party or use it to offset the costs of supplying their service.

Law forbids calling the prices for 084 and 087 numbers as equivalent to "local rate", "lo-call" or "national rate" as these terms ceased to have any meaning in the UK in 2004. At that time, discounted "per-minute" costs for calls to local geographic numbers were scrapped, replaced with one rate for all calls to UK geographic numbers regardless of location. Additionally, most providers started offering packages that gave inclusive free calls to 01 and 02 numbers anywhere in the country (some providers excluded Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man). Within a few years, packages with inclusive minutes became the standard offering, but 084 and 087 numbers are not included in the deal (except for 0870 from 2009).

With the increased price differential, the use of non-geographic telephone numbers in the United Kingdom has been a major cause of bill shock. Pollster YouGov found that 49% of mobile users have been surprised to see how much they have been charged for calling non-geographic numbers and 90% believe organisations should make the cost of these calls clearer. According to Ofcom, UK consumers paid around £1.9 billion for calls to non-geographic numbers in 2009.

Introduced in February 2007, numbers which begin 03 are, by law, charged at the same rate as 01 and 02 numbers whether you call from a landline or from a mobile, and are included in "inclusive" minutes call packages. This means that from most landlines and from contract mobiles, calls to 03 numbers are effectively "free" (up to the end of the inclusive minutes allowance). In 2013, the Consumer Rights Directive will make it illegal to use "numbers that cost more than the basic rate" for customer services and complaints. Many current users of 084 and 087 numbers will have to move to their 034 and 037 equivalents or to 01 and 02 geographic numbers.

After sustained abuse and various scams, telephone numbers beginning 070, 0871, 0872 and 0873 came under the strict regulation of PhonepayPlus, the premium rate services regulator, in 2009, joining the existing regulatory system for 09 and 118 numbers.

Numbers beginning 0500 or 080 are free to call from a landline, but usually cost from about 10 pence to 35 pence per minute from mobiles. There are proposals to make these calls free from mobiles in the future but this cannot happen until the "mobile termination rate" is reduced to be on a par with that levied for calls to 01 and 02 numbers.

Following their success in TV voting on shows like BBC One's The Voice UK, voice short codes are now being used as an alternative to non-geographic numbers. Voice short codes enable businesses to provide greater transparency on call rates, as the rate is fixed irrespective of which network is being used to make the call.

When advertising an 084 or 087 number, current rules state there must be a warning that calls may cost more than geographic rates. Most of the companies complying with the rules simply show the cost of calling from a BT landline and add the words "other providers and mobile operators may charge more". However, ever since the telecoms market was opened up to competition, price caps have applied to BT call pricing. At present, it is true to say that most other providers "will", not "may", charge more. Additionally, with less than one-third of landline calls now originating from BT phone lines, BT prices are no longer "typical" of what people are actually paying. In 2013, the way that call prices for 084 and 087 numbers are conveyed may be changing, with the called-party having to declare the level of their "service charge" or "premium", and the callers telecoms company having to state their "access charge".