The thing is that the more numbers there are the more difficult it is to police them. They pointed out that the types of services on 09 tend to be different to those on 0871 and that has come about because of the lack of regulation.
One principal type of service is customer services which they called a 'secondary service' to a 'primary purchase' such as mail order. The question was raised about whether ICSTIS should get involved with the primary purchase which I think that the answer is obviously not. These are also 'locked in' type services and a phone call may be necessary where the retailer does not answer email.
Quote:However, as recognised above, there are differences between conventional premium rate services where the service is wholly paid for by the cost of the call and those provided on the 0871 number range where the number is often a facility to provide contact with a company. While some revenue may be derived from the cost of the call, frequently the primary source of revenue is related to a separate purchase of goods or services.
This implies that the main reason that these sorts of SPs choose 0871 isn't because of revenue. Of course, part of the reason is companies' ignorance of telephone call charges and what they believe to be a "cheap call".
I also pointed out that from the caller's point of view it's not so much the revenue (or amount thereof), but the call cost. OK, so you can't have revenue without higher call charges, but when a caller chooses between different 0871 SPs (I am entertaining the way Ofcom sees it now) they don't see how much revenue they get, which may vary despite both numbers costing the same. My point being that amount of revenue paid is not relevant, but call charges are.
It is also apparent that ICSTIS is supposedly seeking to police these numbers, but because the SPs say that they can't abolish call queueing, ICSTIS won't outlaw this. So what's the point in regulation?