Oftel has taken action to put a stop to the misuse of 070 personal numbers.

In October Oftel published the statement Restoring trust in personal numbering, following a consultation that took place over the summer.

Oftel had been alerted to a number of scams where customers had run up unexpectedly large bills after being encouraged to call personal numbers.

Oftel has decided that the only way to prevent the misuse of personal numbers is to ban revenue sharing between service providers and the holders of 070 personal numbers, or 'end users'.

Personal numbers, which begin with the prefix 070, are part of the 'find-me-anywhere' range which also includes mobiles and pagers. They forward calls to specified telephone numbers, including mobile phone numbers.

The benefit of a personal number to the end user is that a connection has been made, not that he or she receives payment for receiving the call. Personal numbers are a useful extension to geographic and mobile numbers. They are not substitutes for 08 or 09 numbers when companies wish to offer content or information services.

Scams

• Oftel and ICSTIS, the premium rate services regulator, received reports of a number of scams including:
• websites promoting "unregulated premium rate services" on 070 numbers;
• Internet service providers using 070; newspaper ads for information services on 070 numbers;
• expensive credit "advice lines";
• estate agents, hoteliers and others targeted for fax-back scams; and
• mobile text messages asking people to call 070 numbers.

In one case, consumers ran up telephone bills of up to £13,000 for calls to an ISP which had advertised 'free' dial-up access. In fact, the service ran on an 070 number that charged 38 pence per minute. To add insult to injury, callers then found that the default setting on their computers had been changed, as a result of accessing that website, and that they were unwittingly browsing the Internet at the same rate. The case was resolved satisfactorily by ICSTIS and Oftel and the 070 number was closed down.

The solution

Personal numbering service providers were among the first to point out the link between revenue sharing arrangements and the proliferation of complaints and misuse.

Following discussions, Oftel came to the conclusion that this type of revenue sharing was not an essential aspect of the business models of personal numbering service providers. In fact, it was an increasing cause of market distortion.

Banning end user revenue sharing will encourage end users to choose the service that offers them the best value for money, rather than one that gives them a quick financial reward. It will not affect the ability of service providers, or their agents, to share revenues with telecom operators.

Oftel believes that sharing revenue with end users has also fuelled an increase in the average cost of calling a personal number. Over time, additional revenue (the amount that will no longer go back to end users) will now find its way back to callers through lower call charges, helping to further restore caller confidence in 070 numbers.

In addition to regulatory action, Oftel wrote to consumer groups to raise awareness of potential problems. Oftel and ICSTIS have already seen the number of complaints about personal numbering fall as a result of increased consumer knowledge.

Extending the ban

Some respondents to the consultation felt that this ban should be extended to other number ranges. Oftel concluded that, at present, there was no sound reason for extending it. However, it has undertaken to keep the situation under review and act decisively, if abuse occurs.

Removing the ban

Oftel also announced that, whilst it believes that the end user revenue share ban is the only viable method of dealing with this problem at present, it is open to the development of an industry code of practice. This is consistent with Oftel's policy to promote self-regulation wherever possible.

Should a personal numbering code of practice prove as effective in preventing abuse of the 070 range, as the ICSTIS code has proved to be in regulating the provision of premium rate services, Oftel is committed to considering a removal of this ban.

For further information contact Nicholas Good (tel: 020 7634 5333 / e-mail: nicholas.good@oftel.gov.uk).