Charging arrangements

1.13 Given their social importance, the Commission has stated in the Decision that ‘116’ numbers should be ‘freephone’ numbers. However, ‘freephone’ means different things in different Member Sates. In some countries, ‘freephone’ calls are always without cost to the caller. In others, including in the UK, the caller may incur charges. In the UK, there is a requirement that the caller is notified by an announcement at the start of the call before any charges apply.

1.14 Due to the common practice of charging for ‘freephone’ calls from mobile telephones, we consider that designating all of the 116 number range as ‘freephone’ would not sufficiently further the social function of some of the services that might be offered. Although mobile providers have taken the commercial decision not to charge for ‘freephone’ calls to certain services, we have concluded that the extreme social value of some services reserved ‘116’ numbers means that it would be strongly in the consumer interest to ensure that calls to those numbers were always ’free to caller’ , meaning that there is no charge irrespective of how the call is made .

1.15 We consider that the three services currently reserved ‘116’ numbers by the Commission - hotline for missing children, child helplines and emotional support helplines – are of extreme social value and, following consultation, we have decided to designate these as ‘free to caller’ in the Numbering Plan. However, there is potential for the Commission to reserve many ‘116’ numbers for different types of services of social value. Some of these services may focus on providing useful but non-urgent information or have a commercial element. Imposing a ‘free to caller’ tariff for such services may not be justified.

1.16 To enable us to determine the most appropriate charging arrangements for subsequent ‘116’ numbers on a service-by-service basis, we have developed a set of factors to inform our decision. The factors are based on the level of social value or need to be met by the service; the likely situation of callers when they need to call the service; and the market environment in which the service operates. We will also seek recommendations on charging arrangements for each ‘116’ number from the advisory committees and will consult on the charging arrangements as part of our process of making each ‘116’ number available for allocation.
Next steps

1.17 To implement our decisions on ‘116’ numbers, we are modifying the Numbering Plan, General Condition 17 (‘the Numbering Conditions’) and the access code application form. The 116 Consultation followed the necessary statutory procedures to make these modifications and explained the reasoning. The final notifications of the modifications are at annexes 7 to 9 to this statement.

1.18 The first stage of the comparative selection process for allocation of the 116000, 116111 and 116123 numbers will close on 3 April 2009, following which, those service providers meeting the Service Eligibility Criteria will move on to the second stage of the selection process. Provided that suitable service provider(s) / communications provider partnerships emerge, we expect to allocate the initial three ‘116’ numbers by September 2009.

118 whatever or 116 whatever. The former is more well known about, so I think that they are going to receive a lot of wrong numbers at the cost of callers.    

The whole 118-prefixed directory enquiries services and 116-prefixed "helplines" are EU ideas, are they not? So I don't see what this has to do with Ofcom.