Ref: 27/00
Date: 20 April 2000

David Edmonds Director General of Telecommunications today reminded the public that 11.5 million telephone numbers in London, Cardiff, Coventry, Northern Ireland, Portsmouth and Southampton will change this Saturday 22 April.

From 1am, on the morning of 22 April, people in the code change areas must always use the new eight digit local numbers, as it will no longer be possible to make local calls using the old numbers.

David Edmonds said today:

"It's vital that everyone understands and is ready to use the new numbers from this Saturday. Both area codes and local numbers will change.

"People can call free on 0808 22 4 2000 to check their new number on the special number change machine. They can also order a free consumer guide that explains the changes. Information on the code changes is also available at www.numberchange.org.

"Oftel has been working closely with the telecoms industry on their £20m ‘Big Number’ campaign to publicise the changes to businesses and consumers. In addition to the Big Number campaign, each telecoms company has sent material to their customers to inform them of the changes.

"Clearly no likes to change their telephone numbers, but these changes are necessary in order to meet the massive growth in demand for telephones, faxes and Internet access.

"Doubling capacity in London by splitting it into two are codes in 1990 created 8 million new telephone numbers which have lasted 10 years. Saturday’s changes will create an additional 64 million telephone numbers – far more than highest forecasted demand of 30 million numbers needed in London by 2012.

"The new numbering scheme creates huge capacity and a clear structure for geographic, mobile, special and premium rate numbers. It is a numbering scheme that will meet the UK’s ever growing telephony needs."

Notes to Editors

1. The new area code and local numbers which comes into force 22 April 2000 are as follows:

Inner London (020) 7xxx xxxx Portsmouth (023) 92xx xxxx

Outer London (020) 8xxx xxxx Coventry (024) 76xx xxxx

Southampton (023) 80xx xxxx Cardiff (029) 20xx xxxx Northern Ireland (028) plus two or three new digits

2. The changes are part of Oftel’s reorganisation of the UK’s numbering system that will create a reserve of nine billion phone numbers and give an indication of the type of service that is being called and likely charge.

3. The new numbering system is:

00 International Codes 05 Reserved for Future Use

1. Existing Area Codes06Reserved for Future Use

02 New Area Codes 07 Mobile, Pagers & Personal Numbers

03 Reserved for Area Codes 08 Freephone & Special Rate Numbers

04 Reserved for Future Use 09 Premium Rate Services & Multimedia

Back to Press Release Index