And here are the full 50 pages and 250 pages worth of traditional totally indecipherable Ofcomese consultation documents.

Also note that they have managed once again to turn this into two consultation documents when they cover only one actual subject.  Presumably this is in the hope that even less people than normal may respond:-

Improved Information About NTS Numbers Consultation 50 Pages -

Click Here

NTS - A Way Forward Consultation - 216 Pages -

Click Here

These are the documents to which we will have to respond and also complain to our MPs about Ofcom having failed in its primary duties on protecting the interests of uk citizens and consumers as stated at:-

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/sdrp/

After a glance at the news release, I've got the following points to make.

1. 0870: End to revenue sharing
Communications providers wishing to charge more than the rate for calls to national-rate geographic numbers would be required to provide a pre-announcement informing the caller of the cost of the call.

Quote:

This statement statement doesn't make it clear whether they mean originating communication providers (OCPs) or terminating communication providers (TCPs). If they mean OCPs, then it's only like what we have now with freephone numbers from most mobiles (although do they have to give a recorded message?) providing that the TCP only receives the same payment they would receive if the call was charged at the geographical rate.

OTOH, if they mean TCP, then that would leave 0870 as a minefield. For those TCPs who choose to have their calls charged above geographical rates, this will force all their customers (ie the service providers, SPs) to either like it or get another number due to the fact that charging is not down to the individual number but blocks of hundreds or thousands.

2. 0871: Re-classified as premium rate
Can't argue with that one, although it will obviously mean alot of upheaval moving 'services', although the whole 0871 prefix could be moved to, say 0902. The only thing is that consumers may be confused about this and think that 0870 has moved to 0902 and dial the 0902 'equivalent' resulting in a wrong number and an expensive charge.

3. 0845: No changes for the next two years
The most likely outcome of this leaves 0845 costing more than 0870! How do you explain that to ordinary consumers?!

SPs who originally wanted to provide a 'local' number are now charging more than those who opted to disadvantage local callers by using 0870 'national' numbers!

4. 0844: Increased price transparency
However, Ofcom is proposing that providers should be required to publish more comprehensive and accurate pricing information.

I presume this would at least cover OCPs. But shouldn't this be the case anyway? Why do we need the current regime to require telephone providers to be clearer on call costs? And how does Ofcom think this will help? Does it think that people will keep pricing booklets by their phones?

If it's a case of SPs must provide (clearer) pricing information, then what about those 09 premium rate services that don't have to provide such information?

8. Use of NTS numbers by public bodies
Ofcom has already stated that, in its view, it is inappropriate for public bodies to use NTS numbers exclusively (i.e. without giving equal prominence to a geographic alternative) when dealing with people on low incomes or other vulnerable groups.

But if they were to abolish revenue sharing on 084/087 numbers there wouldn't be any need for this measure!

Quote:


Dave,

You lost me somewhere.

I am reasonably au fait with the whole NTS scamming issue but even I neither know nor care about these subtle distinctions and the general public certainly won't.

I do however agree with your statement that 0870 will be left as a minefield.

It is also utterly absurd that 0845 always sold to the companies that took it as doing the caller a favour is now to become (along with 0844) the most expensive form of disguised premium rate (since 0870 premium rates will no longer be disgused where they exist).

This has all been approached from the point of view of minimum inconvenience to the telecoms industry rather than maximum simplicity for the consumer.  I hope the ex NTL CEO of Ofcom gets the sack over this one.

Quote:


We should all now be writing to our MPs to get them to ask parliamentary questions as to what tests and checks government ministers have put in place to ensure that Ofcom is working on behalf of citizens and consumers as stated in its formal remit.

I find it extraordinary that in view of Nolan committee rules that are supposed to apply to most of government that the Chief Operating Officer of NTL is allowed to walk straight out of that job and into a job as CEO of Ofcom!

Notice that the actual consultation is as usual made so deliberately incomprehensible that there will be almost no responses other than from us few diehards.

Dave,

I think you and I will have to read the 250 pages and the 50 pages before we can reach any definitive conclusions in that regard.

But why should Ofcom be allowed to produce 300 pages worth of consultation document when surely 20 pages would have been adequate.

A case of yellow highlighters at the ready I think.

Source: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money-savers/article.html?in_article_id=404015&in_p...

<<
"0870's days are numbered"

A MONEY-making telephone number used by Government departments, the BBC and leading companies is to be banned.

Callers to 0870 numbers are charged just under 8p a minute, more than double the standard 3p charged by BT.

Companies which use them take a slice of the profits and some deliberately keep customers on hold to increase their income, watchdog Ofcom reported yesterday.

Consumers spent £1.25bn in 2003 calling 0845 and 0870 numbers used by call centres - almost a fifth of all fixed-line revenues.

This is Money and the Financial Mail have long campaigned for a crackdown on the costly charges, after exposing the abuse of the premium rate phone number by a doctor's surgery.

Thousands of household names use 0870 numbers, including Alliance & Leicester, Barclaycard, Dell computers, GUS and even the DVLA and Citizens Advice.

It appears that the Home Office has 19 of the 0870 lines while the DVLA makes a profit of £1.1m a year from callers to its numbers. The Foreign Office telephone line for callers looking for information on international danger zones is an 0870 number.

Yesterday Ofcom announced that it plans to ban companies and the Government from taking a share of the call cost. This should bring down the price paid by the public for 0870 calls to 3p a minute.

Ofcom also ruled that in future users of 0871 numbers must spell out the 10p charge to all callers through advertisements and with a recorded message.
>>

Not sure I agree with the "0870's days are numbered" assertion. From an initial and quick read of the Ofcon document, I suspect a future huge shift from 0870 to 0844, and in some instances, to 0871 and so the problem will recreate on a different number range.

NEG was, as some of us suspected, very clever (and devious) in pre-empting this by moving the GP scam numbers to the 844 range earlier this year. Prepare for others to follow.

More media coverage....

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/29/nts_ofcom/

<<
Ofcom acts to protect consumers

Ofcom wants to cut the cost of calls to some non-geographic numbers because of concerns that consumers are being ripped off.

The numbers (0870 and 0845) which are used by call centres, travel enquiries and banks, for example, can cost up to 10p a minute to call - three times the cost of a BT national rate call.

The communications regulator reckons this isn't fair and wants changes introduced that would see the cost of these NTS (Number Translation Services) numbers fall in line with the cost of a national rate call.

And if firms want to continue to charge these higher rates then Ofcom wants them to inform callers beforehand of the higher charges before they hang on the line waiting for their call to be answered.

In a statement Ofcom said that it wanted to address "consumer concerns about the cost of calling voice services offered on 0845 and 0870 numbers".

"These services are often advertised as local or national rate calls respectively, but these descriptions have become a source of confusion as competitive services and tariffs have supplanted a single set of BT prices."

While Ofcom accepts that NTS has been "extremely successful" in delivering new telephone-based services such as online banking, it wants to see greater consumer protection.

Research shows that phone users are confused about the charges with many unaware that the operators are able to generate revenue from the call.

For those aware of this, there is a belief that some call centres, for example, keep people waiting on the phone for longer in a bid to generate extra cash.

"Businesses like call centres, that use 0845 and 0870 numbers, may be able to obtain some revenues for receiving inbound calls from the telephone companies providing their service," said Ofcom.

"Consumers have become concerned that this revenue may provide an incentive for some companies to prolong calls."
>>

I have highlighted the above statement. When I lived in the United Kingdom, I recall having on-line banking access (NatWest) on a standard London number (071 at the time), without all this 08 garbage that Ofcom claims to have "delivered new services". More lies from the lying liars. From memory, NatWest had several numbers around the country including London, Manchester, Glasgow and possibly Bristol and others for on-line banking.