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Silent Calls:FAQs

1. What are silent calls?

The term ‘silent call’ is a generic description for all those types of telephone call where the person called experiences silence on the line when they answer the telephone and has no means of establishing whether anyone is at the other end. There are a number of circumstances which give rise to silent calls.

Most silent calls are not generated with malicious intent but are caused by automated calling systems such as predictive or power diallers used by call centres for telemarketing, market research, debt collection and other purposes.

The diallers are programmed to generate and attempt to connect calls. If there are not enough call centre agents available to handle a call it is abandoned if the call is answered by a live individual. These abandoned calls can cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety.

Another source of silent calls is where a fax is distributed to a voice phone line. If the person called answers such a call they are likely to hear the high-pitched tones of the fax ‘handshake’ protocol.

The most serious are silent calls made with a malicious intent to deliberately frighten or annoy the person called. In such cases, the caller may be guilty of a criminal offence under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

2. Who is generating silent or abandoned calls?

Ofcom believes the four principal sources of silent or abandoned calls generated by use of automated calling systems are: telemarketing; market research; financial services, including debt recovery; and number scanning.

The latter involves dialling a sequence of phone numbers to determine which ones are in service. The results are used to develop a ‘clean’ list of active numbers which can be sold.

3. What numbers of silent or abandoned calls are being made?

The absolute number of silent or abandoned calls is very hard to quantify. Customer complaints offer one useful measure of the level of public concern.

At the beginning of 2006 BT reported that it was handling about 80,000 complaints a month about silent calls. Since June 2006 BT has reported around 30,000 complaints per month.

In January 2006, ntl:Telewest were reporting 60 complaints a month on silent calls. Since June 2006 ntl:Telewest have reported around 30 complaints a month.

Complaint levels to Ofcom's Contact Centre have risen from about 150 complaints a month last year, to an average of about 270 complaints a month since June 2006. This change may be partly explained by increased consumer awareness around the problem of silent calls.

4. What powers does Ofcom have to tackle silent or abandoned calls?

Under sections 128-130 of the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom can take enforcement action when there are reasonable grounds for believing that a person (either an individual or a legal entity) has persistently misused an electronic communications network or service. A person misuses a network or service if the effect or likely effect of their behaviour is to cause unnecessary annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety to another person.

Under section 131 of the Act Ofcom is required to publish a statement of its general policy with regard to the exercise of its powers under sections 128-130. Ofcom can revise the statement, from time to time, as it sees fit.

5. What approach is Ofcom taking to combat silent or abandoned calls?

Ofcom is taking action in four areas to combat silent or abandoned calls:

On 1 March 2006 Ofcom published a new statement of policy on persistent misuse, which set out a series of requirements for organisations using automated calling systems;
Ofcom will take firm and decisive enforcement action, where appropriate, to ensure compliance with these new requirements; for example on 30 January 2007 Ofcom imposed financial penalties on four companies.
Ofcom continues to engage with relevant stakeholders;
Ofcom plans to review the policy after 12 months to assess whether further changes are necessary.

Ofcom believes that compliance with the new requirements will significantly reduce the potential for consumers to receive silent or abandoned calls.

6. What are the new requirements for call centres using diallers?

The new rules provide a consistent and enforceable framework for the responsible use of automated calling systems. Ofcom’s policy aims significantly to reduce the total number of calls abandoned by call centres and to ensure that consumers can clearly identify the source of any abandoned call that they receive. The new requirements include:

The abandoned call rate must be no more than three per cent of live calls on each individual campaign over any 24 hour period;
In the event of an abandoned call, a very brief recorded information message is played within two seconds of the call being answered which contains at least the following information:
- The identity of the organisation on whose behalf the call was made, which will not necessarily be the same organisation that is making the call;
- Details of a no charge (0800) or Special Services basic rate (0845) number the called person can contact so that they have the possibility of declining to receive further calls from that organisation; and
- Includes no marketing content and is not used as an opportunity to market to the called person;

Calls which are not answered must ring for a minimum 15 seconds before being terminated;
When an abandoned call has been made to a particular number, any repeat calls to that number in the following 72 hours must be made by a live operator;
For each outbound call a Calling line identification (CLI) number is presented to which a return call may be made which is not charged at a higher rate than the national call rate;
Any call made by the called person to the contact number provided shall not be used as an opportunity to market to that person, without that person’s consent; and
Records are kept for a minimum period of six months that demonstrate compliance with the above procedures.

7. What are the new requirements for fax broadcasters?

Although it would not be feasible for fax broadcasters to ensure that they only make calls to fax lines, there are procedures they can adopt which would lessen the degree of nuisance caused. These include some of the above requirements, and:

Unsolicited communications are not sent via fax to any phone number unless that number has been ‘cleaned’ against:
- the Fax Preference Service (FPS) file within the previous 28 days; and
- the caller’s in-house suppression list; and

either a recorded message or a live operator is available at the CLI number presented to inform called persons of the identity of the organisation that called them and that the called person’s number will be deleted from the organisation’s database and added to its in-house suppression list at the called person’s request if they leave their name and telephone number.

8. Why did Ofcom introduce a 3% abandoned call rate?

Given Ofcom’s overall policy objective of trying to reduce the volume of silent or abandoned calls Ofcom believes that the three per cent target over a 24 hour period is achievable, proportionate and represents a move in the right direction.

Ofcom investigations into silent calls have found that some call centres' abandoned call rates can be significantly higher than the five per cent maximum required by existing voluntary industry codes.

Ofcom believes that setting an enforceable three per cent limit will significantly reduce the volume of abandoned calls, while allowing the legitimate and responsible use of automated calling systems.

Consumers should benefit from some share of the efficiency gains which dialler technology enables.

9. Why didn’t Ofcom simply ban silent or abandoned calls?

A complete ban on abandoned calls was considered as a policy option but would effectively prohibit the use of automated calling systems in the UK. Ofcom believes that the new requirements implemented in the statement will have a big impact on the nuisance that silent calls cause, without having disproportionate cost impacts. However, Ofcom will be reviewing the effectiveness of the requirements after they have had time to be adopted and do not rule out further revisions to the statement if they become necessary.

10. Can call centres interrupt the information message or play a holding message?

Ofcom believes that such practices are completely unacceptable as they would create a temptation to speed up diallers to make more calls where no agent is available in the expectation that one might become free while the message is playing. This would lead to more, not fewer, nuisance calls.

11. Could information messages give rise to annoyance or inconvenience?

Ofcom recognises this risk but believe that to the extent that information messages allay the anxiety of a silent call they represent a consumer benefit. This is not to say that an organisation that bombards a particular number with numerous information messages over a short period will not be committing an act of persistent misuse.

12. Will offshore call centres have to comply with the new requirements?

Although there are no reliable statistics about the proportion of silent or abandoned calls generated from offshore call centres, Ofcom will take action against any organisation with a UK presence on whose behalf calls are made from an offshore centre where those calls constitute acts of persistent misuse.

13. How will Ofcom monitor and enforce compliance with new requirements?

Ofcom will continue to monitor complaints about silent or abandoned calls received by its Contact Centre. Ofcom will also work closely with the different nuisance calls bureaux to identify any trends in silent or abandoned call rates and the persons or organisations making such calls. If appropriate, Ofcom will use its formal powers to require the provision of information. Ofcom is committed to taking firm and decisive enforcement action where appropriate.

14. What are the penalties for organisations who fail to meet these requirements?

Where Ofcom has reasonable grounds for believing that a person has engaged in persistent misuse of a network or service, Ofcom can issue a notification setting out the use which Ofcom considers to be persistent misuse.

Beyond the issuing of a notification, Ofcom can impose financial penalties. Earlier this year the Government increased the maximum financial penalty that Ofcom can impose from £5,000 to £50,000 per notification. This change followed a separate DTI consultation.

15. What action can consumers take to avoid receiving silent or abandoned calls?

Consumers have access to services such as Anonymous Call Rejection, Choose to Refuse and Caller Display. However, these commercially provided services cannot be relied upon to be 100 per cent effective. Consumers should speak with their telephone provider about these services.

Consumers can also register with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) if it is their wish not to receive telemarketing calls. For more information please contact The Telephone Preference Service Limited who provide the TPS on Ofcom's behalf under an outsourcing agreement:

Telephone Preference Service
DMA House
70 Margaret Street
London
W1W 8SS

Tel: 0845 0700707
Email:tps@dma.org.uk
Web:www.tpsonline.org.uk

16. Will an ex-directory phone number prevent silent or abandoned calls?

An ex-directory phone number will not, in itself, protect you from receiving unsolicited calls. Ex-directory service will ensure that your phone provider does not print your details in any published Phone Book or enable access to your number via a directory enquiry service. It may help to reduce calls of this type because certain organisations use the Phone Book to identify potential customers. However, customer data can be compiled through other means and you should be aware of this whenever you provide details of your phone number to organisations with whom you do business.

17. How can consumers complain if they receive a silent or abandoned call?

If you have not done so already, you should contact your network or service provider. Your provider might be able to identify the organisation making the silent or abandoned calls and provide you with advice or assistance to prevent such calls in the future.

If you continue to receive silent or abandoned calls and your network or service provider is unable to assist, please contact Ofcom’s Contact Centre to register a complaint:

Web: www.ofcom.org.uk

Phone: 0300 123 3333

Fax: 0300 123 0811

Post:
Ofcom Contact Centre
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA

Ofcom's Contact Centre logs all complaints under a case reference number. Ofcom will update our database of complaints accordingly. This information will help Ofcom to target and take action, where appropriate, against organisations that are making these types of calls.