Telephone Numbering Safeguarding the future of numbers Consultation Publication date: 23 February 2006 Closing Date for Responses: 25 May 2006 Contents Section Page Foreword 2 1 Summary 5 2 Introduction 14 3 Strategic context 16 4 Current challenges to the Numbering Plan 24 5 Summary of proposals and next steps 35 Annex 1 Geographic number management 65 2 Improved trust and availability for 08 and 09 numbers 85 3 Mobile, Personal and Individual numbers 101 4 Meeting consumer needs with market-based mechanisms 110 5 Protecting consumer interests 129 6 Glossary 143 7 Responding to this consultation 147 8 Ofcom’s consultation principles 150 9 Consultation response cover sheet 151 10 Consultation questions 153 Telephone Numbering – Safeguarding the future of numbers Foreword Telephone numbers are something which, understandably, people and businesses mostly take for granted. But numbers are an essential part of how residential consumers and businesses obtain and pay for their telecommunications services. Telephone numbers are an important national resource. In the past, changes to the way this resource has been managed have tended to be made on a case by case basis. Convergence and increasing competition from multiple suppliers for new services produces a need for a long-term framework for managing this resource effectively to ensure that consumers, business and residential, get the maximum benefits; and so that communications providers and users of numbers can continue to innovate with some planning certainty. The traditional means of allocating numbers, designed in the days of a monopoly provider and slow-moving technology, is essentially inefficient in its use of numbers. In the past this has led to shortages of geographic numbers (i.e., those with an 01 or 02 prefix), particularly in the larger towns and cities, and then to large scale enforced number changes. Consumers and businesses rightly resent the consequent disruption. The hundreds of new services and substantial rise in the number of providers, that competition and technology change have made possible, bring many benefits but continue to put the geographic numbering system under strain. A key proposal in this document therefore is for more efficient mechanisms for allocating numbers, which we believe will remove the need for such large-scale enforced number changes now and in the future. Alongside the location-specific, geographic, number-ranges there is a series of non- geographic number ranges: 080 for Freephone and 07 for mobile phones are probably the best understood. But in general consumer awareness is low about the meaning of these number ranges and hence of the prices they can expect to pay for calling such numbers. We are therefore proposing to make these ranges of numbers more systematic, more accessible and easily understood. A key proposal is the creation of a new Country- wide number range – 03. This will give public services and businesses the advantage of a single number nationwide and the routing advantages of, for example, being able to direct calls to whichever call centre has the lightest traffic at that time, minimising the time customers have to wait. For consumers the benefit will be that prices will be closely tied to their provider’s geographic rates and will mean that, if their provider provides inclusive or low-cost call packages, calls to 03 numbers can be included in those packages. The other specific proposal is the use of the 06 number range for personalised number services. In the short term these will be for “follow-me-anywhere” services but in the longer term could be allocated direct to the individual in the way, for example, that personalised number plates are. For the 08 and 09 chargeable and premium rate services ranges we propose to band new numbers by price and type of service with the straightforward message: the lower the number that follows 08 or 09 the lower the price in that range. It will also allow, for example, parents to bar access to certain types of chargeable services that 2 Telephone Numbering – Safeguarding the future of numbers they do not wish their children to call, while allowing the family to continue to have access to others, such as charity donation lines. Finally, we are also proposing to introduce a consumer protection test when allocating telephone numbers. In the past numbers were allocated purely on the basis of need. But a small minority of unscrupulous communications and premium rate service providers have abused those numbers to cause harm to consumers. The consumer protection test would allow us to cut off the supply of numbers to such providers who might persistently and seriously misuse them. Taken together we believe that these proposals will improve the management of the numbering system; and will, as the table below illustrates, provide a framework for the future which increases consumer awareness, enhances consumer protection and allows for greater innovation and more new services. Stephen A. Carter, Chief Executive 3 Telephone Numbering – Safeguarding the future of numbers Ofcom’s proposed future Numbering Plan Numbers starting: Service provided: Geographic numbers Countrywide numbers For future use Personalised numbers Mobile numbers Freephone Chargeable services Premium rate services 4 Telephone Numbering – Safeguarding the future of numbers Section 1 Summary The purpose of this document 1.1 Telephone numbers are a critical national resource. They are a key part of how UK households and businesses access and pay for £34 billion worth of services each year1, from basic local calls to services such as help desks and chat lines. They are fundamental to effective business operations. They are also key to the communication requirements of citizens, as they allow access to many essential public services. 1.2 Telephone numbers must be managed effectively, so that they are available on demand, do not need to be changed, and mean something to those who call them. This is Ofcom’s responsibility. This consultation document considers how telephone numbers are used now, how they will be used in the future, and how Ofcom intends to manage them so that consumers get the maximum possible benefits. 1.3 Importantly, this document does not propose changes to the geographic telephone numbers traditionally used by most households and businesses. Indeed, the fundamental aim of our proposals for these numbers is to reduce the risk of such changes, now and in the future. We propose to achieve this by putting in place new mechanisms to manage the allocation and use of telephone numbers. 1.4 We are proposing some changes to simplify the non-geographic numbers used by certain business and public services. This will seek to strengthen consumer confidence in these numbers, and will take into account work already underway by Ofcom to address consumer concerns about them. Our proposals have been designed so as to minimise any disruption caused by these changes. 1.5 The long-term plan for telephone numbering which we set out in this document is based on a set of strategic principles that will apply to all numbering policy decisions. These principles are designed to ensure that our numbering decisions always consider the interests of consumers and businesses. Consumers do not generally care about the more technical aspects of numbering policy, but they do care about the continuity of their own number, and they do want to be able to dial other numbers with confidence. 1.6 We are making a number of specific proposals to benefit consumers: • using a consumer protection test when allocating telephone numbers, which will permit us to cut off the supply of telephone numbers to those communications providers that persistently and/or seriously abuse consumers; 1 UK spending on telecoms, excluding broadband and corporate internet 5 Telephone Numbering – Safeguarding the future of numbers • restructuring the way in which we allocate geographic numbers (numbers starting with ‘01’ or ‘02’) in order to increase the efficiency with which they are used by communications providers, and thereby avoid number changes; • creating a new type of number – starting with ‘03’ - for those business and public services who require a national presence, but who do not wish to charge consumers a premium for contacting them. Charges for calls to these numbers would be tightly linked to the charges for calls to normal geographic numbers; • simplifying the meaning of those ‘08’ and ‘09’ numbers which are used to provide chargeable services to consumers, so that consumers can easily understand the price that they are paying and the service that they are receiving. We would achieve this over a period of time by managing growth in a manner that is consistent with a clear long-term approach. We propose to protect the strong existing brand of ‘Freephone’ services on ‘0800’; • creating a new type of number – starting with ‘06’ - for existing ‘personal numbering’ services, and perhaps in the future for ‘individual numbers’ which are allocated directly to consumers. We propose to protect against abuse of these numbers by applying a ceiling to call charges. We also propose to consolidate the use of ‘07’ for mobile numbers, acknowledging the strong consumer recognition of mobile numbers; and • exploring whether the best means of promoting efficiency in the future might be through the use of market-based incentives, such as a modest charge made to communications providers for the numbers that they receive, rather than through the application of ever more complex regulatory rules and processes. 1.7 These proposals fit together to implement the strategic principles we have developed. Some proposals will be phased in, to minimise the costs involved for providers and, ultimately, for consumers. But over time, these proposals as a whole should produce a plan for UK telephone numbers which gives numbers clear and enduring meanings for consumers, which increases trust in certain number ranges, and which makes enough numbers available for current and future services.