Numbering Bulletins are published by the Oftel Numbering Unit. The full listing of the Numbering Scheme is also available to download. The information may also be found in a readily accessible form on the following Warwick University pages:
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/search/Phones/Oftel_cl.html
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/cgi-bin-Phones/nng
The draft Numbering Conventions, published in January for consultation, are currently being revised in the light of comments received. Publication of the new Conventions is scheduled for mid-April. Oftel will also be advising operators during April and May of new 07, 08 and 09 codes designated for new use/migration; the May Numbering Bulletin will also provide more details. A common start date for filing requests for new number blocks will also be provided.
As proposed in the draft Numbering Conventions, standard application forms are being introduced. Currently about one third of all requests for numbering capacity require further information from the applicant. This causes delays in the processing of all applications. By requiring the same information in a common format, the efficiency of the application process should be improved. The Numbering Unit will be providing all operators with hard and electronic copies of the forms shortly.
The majority of operators have now supplied Returns for the 1996 Audit providing utilisation information on allocated capacity and supplying forecasts of demand. These responses are currently being reviewed for completeness and the results will be fed into the Review’s analysis of demand, as well as assisting normal allocation work. Responses are still awaited from:
These responses are being pursued. In the absence of Audit Returns, Oftel will not make further allocations to these operators and will begin to recover all reserved capacity.
The next Numbering Bulletin will be published in May.
The UK Government’s response to the Green Paper is available from Oftel’s library
(tel: 0171 634 8764/8765; fax 0171 634 8946).
The large number of changes to Access Codes reflects the notified use of Type C Codes by operators during the period.
From this month allocations in the Personal Numbering range (070) are being made in blocks of 100,000 numbers rather than the blocks of 1M numbers allocated hitherto. This block size will achieve a better overall utilisation of the numbering space. This block size is allowed by the current Numbering Conventions and is identified as the norm in the revised Numbering Conventions which are due to be published shortly. As before, operators will be able to apply for more than one block of such numbers if justified by demand. The list of the Numbering Scheme published on the Oftel Internet Web site for April 1997 reflects these amended block sizes.
The Scheme has now been updated to show the intended migration paths for 5–6 digit conversion of local numbers. BT will continue to advise customers of the date of change 12 months before this occurs.
The Scheme now shows those blocks intended for migration to the new 02X codes in Belfast, Cardiff, Portsmouth and Southampton.
The following blocks have been allocated to BT for resilience purposes: 01711 00, 01, 02 and 03. This month’s changes include the conversion of 8435 blocks protected at the time of PhONEday in 1995 to Free.
Changes made to the Scheme in March 1997 are summarised below and are shown on Oftel’s Internet pages; a full listing of changes from February to April will be published in the Numbering Bulletin in May.
| Area Numbering Range | Allocations | 50 |
| Reservations | 1 | |
| Other Changes | 8539 | |
| Mobiles Numbering Range | Allocations | 0 |
| Reservations | 0 | |
| Other Changes | 0 | |
| Personal Numbering Range | Allocations | 4 |
| Reservations | 0 | |
| Other Changes | 1 | |
| Special Services Numbering Range | Allocations | 14 |
| Reservations | 0 | |
| Other Changes | 0 | |
| Access Codes | Allocations | 12 |
| Reservations | 2 | |
| Other Changes | 29 | |
| Total Number of Changes | 8652 |