I think that we should question the validity of Ofcom's research, especially the consumer research.
Quote:A6.25 [...] The quantitative research found that the majority (79%) agreed that every individual has a choice whether or not to use these services.
Really ?
Bear in mind:
Quote:A6.27 Before the interview only 30% of consumers were aware that companies who use NTS prefixes share call revenue with telephone providers.
Quote:A6.32 Overall, the qualitative and quantitative research indicated that residential consumers are looking for clarity in order to distil the confusion over call prices rather than being concerned about revenue share per se. ...
That would be reasonable as most consumers weren't aware of RS before being asked, so how can telling them that companies can RS brief enough on the issues to make an
informed decision?
Quote:A6.32 continued: ... When options were presented to respondents in the qualitative research there was no clear preference for a single option, although Option 2 (Ofcom's preferred option from the October 2004 Consultation – see Section 2, paragraph 2.12 for explanation) was the one that was preferred by most. This option was ‘safe’, in that it was most similar to the status quo so there were no further complications. ...
So maybe interviewees didn't really understand what it was the were 'choosing' and what the implications were. They just picked one from the list.
Quote:A6.32 continued: ... Anything that was perceived to complicate matters, or introduced additional, or unfamiliar numbers, tended to be rejected by the focus groups. ...
Options 2 was to break up 0845/0870 into different pricing rates. This would obviously complicate matters and so Ofcom are right to not go along with this.