Ofcom - 1998
January - On 28th Oftel announced plans to help Coventry meet the challenges of the new millennium. This means that from the year 2000 Coventry’s code will move from 01203 to 024. This new code offers a ten fold increase in the supply of numbers in the Coventry area.
February The statement Identification of Significant Market Power for the purposes of the Interconnection Directive was issued, which explained the methodology Oftel used in determining that four operators (BT, Kingston, Cellnet and Vodafone) have SMP.
Cellnet were told to stop unfair pricing towards some of its service providers. A provisional order was made against the mobile phone company.
March – A major review was launched to ensure that Hull gains the full benefits of the information age. The consultative document Delivering the benefits of the information age to customers in Hull . Following on from the document was a public meeting held in Hull on 25 March so a wide range of views can be heard.
The Director General announced he intends to stop the British Fax Directory calling whole ranges of phone numbers automatically just to identify a fax machine which is then sent junk faxes.
April – Following consultation, changes have been made to One2One and Orange's licences. The alteration means that they will no longer have to provide airtime to mobile service providers.
June – The Director General of telecommunications has warned a company to stop making telesales calls to customers who don't want to receive them. The company even after being asked by the complainant to stop making calls could give no assurances that they would not continue making calls.
July – On the 13 of this month, the National Code and Number Change launched their publicity campaign ‘the big number’ – for more information on the changes contact the national helpline on
0800 22 4 2000.
Oftel agreed an extension for the MMC inquiry into the price of calling mobile phones; the three month extension means that a statement from the MMC will be available from December 1998.
As part of the national numbering scheme of January 1997 all freephone numbers need to move to the 080 range. Oftel has issued a consultation document Freephone numbers – options for the future to discuss the most effective option of bringing all freephone numbers to this range.
The consultation document Carrier Pre-Selection in the UK was published this month. It means that BT and Kingston customers can be connected to the telephone network by one operator, but can send their calls via a different operator if they want to.
The results of the review of Kingston Communications' licence was announced on the 31 July. The review will extend choice for the people and businesses of Hull.
August – The Director General of telecommunications has called on telephone companies to safeguard consumers against misleading Premium Rate Services. In an open letter to the Chief Executives of all UK telecoms companies telephone companies were asked to put consumers first when agreeing contracts for premium rate services.
Oftel backs The Telecoms Operator Forum, backed by 20 telecoms companies to beat year 2000 bug and ensure that the phone networks will not suffer when the date changes to 1 January 2000.
October – Ionica plc was put into the hands of Administrators, there will be no interruption in service to Ionica's customers. The administrators will transfer customers to an alternative supplier or suppliers if a buyer is no found.
December - The Director General, David Edmonds, announced he intends to implement fully the recommendations made by the MMC following an investigation, made at the request of Oftel, into the price of calls made to mobile phones. As a result, the costs of calls from a BT line to Vodafone or Cellnet mobile phones will fall by 25%.
An agreement was reached between BT and the administrators of Ionica to ensure continuity of service to Ionica customers.
From 1 January 1999, mobile phone customers will be able to keep their old number when switching networks. The UK is the first country in the world to give customers this ability.
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