070 & 076, not mobiles but £1.50pm!

dealer_wins

I agree with those that say 07 should be exculsively for mobile phones. Imagine if some 01, 02 ,03 numbers were "personal rate" of 75p per min.

Ian011

When 070 personal numbers were first introduced in the 1990s, the termination rate for calls to ordinary mobile numbers was also 40p per minute or more. This meant that mobile phone contracts with inclusive calls did not include calls to other mobile networks. Calling a mobile phone on a different network cost 60p to 75p per minute or more, as did a call to an 070 number.

As the mobile termination rate fell, cross-network inclusive calls became possible and this exposed 070 numbers as expensive in comparison. When revenue sharing was allowed on 070 numbers, there were numerous scams. Revenue sharing ceased in 2009.

As the mobile termination rate fell further, the available number of inclusive minutes for calls to genuine mobile numbers increased massively.

Calls to 070 numbers still incur very high termination rates. It is this extra charge that pays for the service. The called party gets the benefit of advanced call-routing technology and makes the caller pay for it. Given the transparency recently imposed on 084, 087 and 09 calls, this situation is now untenable.

Services such as Hospedia should be using 09 numbers and properly declaring their Service Charge. Ofcom reviewed 0500 numbers in 2014 and will close this range in June 2017. Services using ordinary mobile numbers for automated and interactive services had their termination rates capped in May 2015. Ofcom is likely to review 070 and other non-standard numbers such as 055, 056 and 076, perhaps next year. It seems likely these will be phased out too.