The advantages of using 0871 numbers is that there is a revenue stream
available at a level higher then the 0870 revenue share and it is possible to
fund advanced services. There are no delivery charges and when the PPP
regulations comes into effect consumer confidence will increase in the range as
advertising becomes clearer and all adult services on the range are banned.
Ofcom and PPP are currently assessing their proposals for 0871 regulation and
are undertaking a more detailed consultation on the proposed regulations and
have asked for Industry and Consumer comments. The closing date for responses
was the 16th June. PPP will publish a Policy Statement sometime in August 08
which will set out the final decision. There will then be 3 months notice before
the regulations come into effect to give businesses time to make
preparations.
On this basis PPP expect regulations to come into effect in approximately
November 08. It appears that the rules in general will be in place to ensure
consumers are clearly informed of the cost of calling 0871 numbers. Written
information must be easily legible, horizontal and presented in a way that does
not require close examination. Currently, some of our customers have already
started to plan ahead and have displayed under their 0871 numbers in small type-
face ‘Calls over the BT Network will be charged at up to 10 pence per minute at
all times, costs from other providers and mobile networks may vary.’ |
