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Personal Numbering - Guidance on the acceptable use of 070 numbers

Revised 24 January 2004

Ofcom has produced these guidelines to provide range holders with further clarification on what it considers to be acceptable use of 070 numbers. They do not fetter Ofcom's discretion in dealing with future cases involving the use of the 070 range.

Comments on these guidelines are welcome and, if appropriate, may be reflected in any future revision.

1. This guidance provides further clarification on what Ofcom considers to be acceptable use of 070 numbers. It does not replace the National Telephone Numbering Plan, nor Condition 17 of the General Conditions, but provides additional guidance for range holders and their sub-allocatees in response to recent cases and enquiries about whether a particular service is acceptable.

2. This guidance covers:

The National Telephone Numbering Plan
Responsibility for sub-allocated numbers
Acceptable use of 070 numbers
Criteria for assessing appropriate use

The National Telephone Numbering Plan

3. The National Telephone Numbering Plan (‘the Plan’) states that there are three essential requirements re use of 070 Telephone Numbers:

Part B1 prohibits the adoption or use of telephone numbers except in accordance with the relevant designation of those numbers in Part A of the Plan. Part A1 states that 070 is set aside for Personal Numbering Services, which are defined in the ‘Definitions and Interpretation’ section of the Plan;
Part B3.2 states that the numbers from the 070 range must not be used for Premium Rate Services (defined in the ‘Definitions and Interpretation’ Section of the Plan); and
Part B3.2 further states that those adopting Personal Numbers must not share with End-Users any revenue obtained from providing a Personal Numbering Service (End-User is defined in Part 1 of the General Conditions - see paragraph 8 below).

Responsibility for sub-allocated numbers

4. Condition 17.8 of the General Conditions states that:

“The Communications Provider shall take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that its Customers, in using Telephone Numbers, comply with the provisions of this Condition, where applicable, and the provisions of the National Telephone Numbering Plan.”

5. Therefore, if sub-allocatees or resellers are not complying with rules it is the range holder's responsibility to ensure that this is remedied. It is therefore in range holders' interests to ensure that resellers are aware of these obligations. This should be made clear in the Numbering Plan that range holders are required to produce in accordance with Condition 17.4 of the General Conditions.

Acceptable use of 070 numbers

6. The 070 range shall only be used for Personal Numbering Services, which are defined as services “based on number translation that enables End-Users to be called or otherwise contacted, using a single Personal Telephone Number, and to receive those calls or other communications at almost any Telephone Number, including Mobile Numbers”. A Personal Number is also defined in the Plan as a Telephone Number “assigned by a Personal Numbering Service Provider, which allows a Subscriber to receive calls or other communications at almost any Telephone Number, including a Mobile Number”.

7. Previously the Numbering Conventions had stated that 070 numbers were "suitable for users who habitually move location", but as this was not a requirement or prohibition, it does not appear in the Plan. Additionally, the length of time for which an 070 number is active is not a relevant consideration in deciding whether or not it is a legitimate Personal Numbering Service.

8. Recent examples of services that may not fit the traditional mode of Personal Numbering, but which Ofcom considers to be legitimate Personal Numbering Services include:

070 numbers allocated to users of Internet chat rooms who want to talk to new acquaintances without divulging their real phone numbers;
070 numbers allocated solely for the purpose of selling, eg, a car through a magazine; and
070 numbers allocated to hospital patients so that they can have their own number for the duration of their stay (but not where a generic 070 number is used that requires further PINs – see para 14 below).

Ofcom’s Criteria for assessing appropriate use

9. In the course of investigations, Ofcom has identified the following key criteria which it considers are shared by all Personal Numbering Services. These criteria will be considered when establishing whether a service being offered on an 070 number is properly considered to fall within the definition of Personal Numbering Service for the purposes of the Plan.

(A) The Personal Numbering Service benefits the person being called

10. End-User is a term defined in the General Conditions, but for the purposes of Personal Numbering, it is the person being called, and not the caller, that is relevant. Personal Numbers can be used to offer a variety of services. What these different services all have in common is that they offer a service to the person being called.

11. Services which allocate 070 numbers with the intention that the calling party sets the number to be called, rather than the receiving party, may not therefore be Personal Numbering Services. If the End-User is not aware that he or she has been allocated an 070 number, benefit does not accrue to the person being called but to the caller and this is not an acceptable use of the 070 range as defined in the Plan.

(B) The end user must be in charge of the destination number

12. Although Personal Numbers were originally designed for people who habitually move location this is not an essential characteristic (see para 7 above).

13. However, what all Personal Numbering Services have in common is that it must be the called party who decides which destination the 070 number is routed to. Additionally, if the service that is being offered is the facility to be reached at any chosen destination then the End-User must be in charge of changing as well as allocating the destination number. This follows on from Criteria A, above.

14. The End-User cannot be in charge of their number if that number can also be used to contact, eg through a switchboard, another End-User. Therefore requiring the addition of a PIN or the stating of a name, to either a human or automated switchboard operator or through a menu selection of some sort, amounts to offering a generic service that may not be Personal Numbering. Such generic services must be offered on other number ranges.

(C) Promotional material

15. Promotional material must reflect the key characteristics of a Personal Numbering Service as set out above.

16. For example, it is not acceptable to promote 070 numbers as a way of making (as opposed to receiving) international calls. Such services must be offered on other number ranges.

17. Promotional material or instructions for use may determine whether a particular service constitutes a Personal Numbering Service. In other words, the difference between appropriate and inappropriate use may hinge on the way it is advertised.

18. If the service has the functionality to be used as a Personal Numbering Service, but users are not aware of this functionality, then they will not be able to use it as such. It may not therefore be considered a Personal Numbering Service. If the service is designed for people who move location, for example, service providers must ensure that instructions for changing the destination number are clear and that every customer receives them.

(D) Management of Personal Numbers

19. The use of 070 numbers for administration of individuals' Personal Numbers may not constitute a Personal Numbering Service in itself.

20. It is not acceptable for service providers to use a single, generic 070 number (ie where everyone dials the same 070 number to access the service) for allocation or management (ie changing the destination number) of other 070 numbers. For generic access to a Personal Numbering Service, an 070 number should not be used. Other ranges (08, or 09, depending on price point) or geographic numbers should be used. This is because the benefit (ie, being able to receive a Personal Number or change a destination number) accrues to the calling party and not the end user. While it may be argued that the end user has control over the destination number - the other of the key criteria - Ofcom does not consider that the range holder or sub allocatee should also be the End-User of an 070 number.

21. However, Service Providers may enable each customer to manage his 070 number (ie changing the destination number) by calling the same 070 number, ie his individual number. In this case, the calling party and the End-User are actually the same person. Therefore the benefit of this service does accrue to the End-User of the number, and the End-User is in control of the number. As it meets both of the criteria above, Ofcom is likely to consider that this use constitutes an element of a legitimate Personal Numbering Service.