Take me through the changes step by step
Organisations that use 0870 numbers will have the option to charge more than the geographic rate for calls if they pre-announce the call price. How will this work in practice?
Ofcom anticipates that most communications providers would wish to offer competitive prices for 0870 calls and would therefore choose to charge at the same rate as for ordinary geographic calls.
However, they would be allowed to charge more on condition that they inform their customers before each call. Customers dialling 0870 numbers that are priced above the national rate for calls to geographic numbers would hear a short pre-recorded message before they are connected to the service. The message would spell out exactly how much the call would cost and callers would not be charged for listening to the message.