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UK telephone number supply secured

Wednesday 7 September, 2011

By Kelvin Goodson

Ofcom to introduce local area code dialling where numbers are scarce.

Ofcom has announced how it plans to protect the future supply of telephone numbers in the UK.

The increase in competition among landline providers over the last six years, as well as some providers holding many unused numbers, has put pressure on the UK’s phone number supply.

Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, will manage provider demand for phone numbers in the future by introducing local area code dialling in places where numbers are in short supply.

From next year, landline users in areas where phone numbers are very scarce will have to dial the area code as well as the telephone number even when making local calls.

Ofcom has also proposed a pilot scheme to charge landline providers for local numbers in areas where they are limited to encourage providers to use them efficiently.

Together, these measures will ensure that the existing phone numbers of home phone users and businesses will not need to be changed.

According to Ofcom’s research, this is “the least disruptive option for homes and businesses” to ensure that more numbers are available in those areas.

Ofcom expects this measure will need to start in Bournemouth by the middle of next year, meaning that a landline user in the town wanting to call another Bournemouth number will have to dial the 01202 code as well as the telephone number.

The regulator has forecast that Brighton and Hove, Aberdeen, Milton Keynes, Bradford and Cambridge will be the next places where local area code dialling will be needed, but stresses that communities will be informed well in advance if that is the case.

Ofcom’s proposed pilot scheme, which will see providers charged 10p per phone number, per year, in around 30 of the areas where numbers are most scarce, will launch next autumn and be reviewed after two years.