At present 0845/0870 are charged at BT's non-"discounted" local and national rates.

All other (landline) operators can set their own prices. Does this apply to 0844, 0871 and 09 premium rate numbers as well? If so, what are Ofcom playing at?

When you see a price quoted as 25p/min, does this only apply to BT customers? For subscribers with different providers, do they have to get out their pricing manual everytime they wish to call these numbers?

Imagine if we had one supermarket that had SMP (significant market power), just like BT have in the telecoms industry. When a product is advertised on TV and in the papers etc, it would be quoted with the price the SMP supermarket charged. All supermarkets wouldn't put their prices on the shelves in front of the products, so you have to ask an assistant for the price every time. If enough people didn't ask, the non-SMP supermarkets may decide to put up their prices because they can get away with it.

I hope that makes sense! Have I got the wrong end of the stick with this?

I think that it would be much better if these premium numbers were quoted as costing "x pence + standard network charge (per minute)". This would be like premium SMS messages are quoted. It would also make it straight forward for prespective customers to shop around when looking at telephone providers.