Home > Consultations > Consultation Documents > Availability of Telephone Numbers > 

Summary

1.1 This statement sets out Ofcom’s decision to give number conservation status to a further 96 geographic area codes in addition to the existing areas which already have that status. It follows on from our consultation Availability of Telephone Numbers: proposals for number conservation measures in additional geographic area codes^(-1-), 16 April 2008 (“the Consultation”). That document sought views on our proposals to ensure the ongoing availability of number blocks to meet communication providers’ requirements in areas experiencing number block shortage.

1.2 The Consultation and this statement are solely concerned with the introduction of number conservation measures in additional geographic area codes. They do not cover changes to numbers or numbering policy. Number conservation measures are central to our management of geographic numbering as they help us to meet communications providers’ demand for geographic numbers without the need for more disruptive action to increase the supply of numbers. They work by reducing the size of number blocks allocated from 10,000 (10K) to 1,000 (1K) numbers. This increases the amount of blocks available for allocation tenfold and more closely aligns allocation to requirements, thus enabling us to allocate numbers more efficiently and better meet demand.

1.3 We received three responses to the Consultation, all of which agreed with our proposals. We have therefore decided to proceed and give conservation status with immediate effect to all 96 geographic area codes listed in Annex 3 of this statement. To reflect this decision, the National Telephone Numbering Plan (“the Plan”) needs to be modified. The notification of the modification and the necessary legal tests are set out in the annexes to this document.

Footnotes:

1.- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/telavail/telavail.pdf

The full document is available below

• Availability of Telephone Numbers [pdf]
  Full Print Version

Back to top