Ofcom has just sent out the below email saying they have published their first "under assessment" list of individuals and companies that Ofcom is assessing "to determine whether they have used telephone numbers in a way that has caused serious or repeated harm to consumers". Ofcom says in its announcement that it will not allocate telephone numbers in the 0871 (or any 087 range other than 0870), 070 and 09 ranges to any company or body on its "under assessment" list. It does not seem to explain what happens about bodies or individuals who get on this list who have already been allocated numbers in these ranges in the past.
Also Ofcom refers to the bodies to whom it is allocating the numbers, whereas many of the abuses on 0871 and 070 are actually perpetrated by the end users of the numbers rather than by the telecoms companies that Ofcom allocates them to. So I am not sure how Ofcom proposes to crack down in this case?
Whilst it is good to hear that Ofcom is finally proposing to take some form of positive action against some forms of phone number misuse I am concerned that the failure to include any 084 range and the 0870 range in this new system effectively means that Ofcom has given the green light to any form of customer abuse that companies or individuals may feel like carrying out on those number ranges. This is hard to understand when several non BT suppliers actually charge the same rate per minute to call 0870 numbers as 0871 numbers.
More information on this below:-
Quote:Ofcom has published the first “under assessment” list following the introduction of the Consumer Protection Test for telephone number allocation. The list names individuals and companies that Ofcom is assessing to determine whether they have used telephone numbers in a way that has caused serious or repeated harm to consumers. The list can be found here: insert link
Ofcom will not allocate telephone numbers in the following ranges to individuals or companies on the “under assessment” list: 070 personal numbers, 087 (excluding 0870) special services higher rate numbers and 09 premium rate numbers.
Ofcom strongly encourages all providers that assign telephone numbers to others to take best use of numbers and consumer protection into account when making assignment decisions, and to refer to the list for that purpose.
Further information on the Consumer Protection Test for telephone number allocation can be found here:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/ioi/numbers/cpt/...........................................................................
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