Telecom Definitions - Supplied by Ofcom in June 2008

'Calling Line Identification' means a facility that enables identification of the number from which a call is being made or to which a return call could be made;

'Carrier Pre-Selection' means a facility which allows a Subscriber to whom a Publicly Available Telephone Service is provided by means of a Public Telephone Network to select which Pre-selected Provider of such Services provided wholly or partly by means of that Network is the Pre-Selected Provider he wishes to use to carry his calls by designating in advance the selection that is to apply on every occasion when there has been no selection of Provider by use of a Telephone Number;

'Conservation Area' means a geographic area that Ofcom believes has a realistic expectation of number exhaustion within the next five years.

'Freephone Number' means a number that is reached free of charge to the Customer except where a charge is notified to the End-User at the start of the call;

'Geographic Area Code' means a Telephone Number identifying a particular geographic area;

'Indirect Access' means a facility which allows a Subscriber to whom a Publicly Available Telephone Service is provided by means of a Public Telephone Network to select which such Service provided wholly or partly by means of that Network is the service he wishes to use by the use of a Telephone Number on each separate occasion on which a selection is made;

'Indirect Access Code' means a type of Access Code used to provide Indirect Access;

'Local Call' means a call made from one Geographic Number to another Geographic Number within a limited geographic area;

'National Call' means a call made from one Geographic Number to another Geographic Number that is not a Local Call;

'Non-Geographic Number' means any Public Telephone Network Number other than a Geographic Number;

'Personal Number' means a Telephone Number, assigned by a Personal Numbering Service Provider, which allows a Subscriber to receive calls or other communications at almost any Telephone Number, including a Mobile Number,

'Personal Numbering Service' means a service based on number translation that enables End-Users to be called or otherwise contacted, using a single Personal Telephone Number, and to receive those calls or other communications at almost any Telephone Number, including Mobile Numbers;

'Portability' means any facility which may be provided by a Communications Provider to another enabling any Subscriber who requests Number Portability to continue to be provided with any Publicly Available Telephone Service by reference to the same Telephone Number irrespective of the identity of the person providing such a service.

'Public Pay Telephone' means a telephone available to the general public, for the use of which the means of payment may include coins and/or credit/debit cards and/or pre-payment cards, including cards for use with dialling codes;

'UK-wide Number' means a Telephone Number for a service where:

(i) the Numbering Plan of the Communications Provider offering the service has no geographic significance for numbers beginning with '03'; and

(ii) the location of the Customer's Apparatus identified by a given Telephone Number at the time of use is not necessarily permanently associated with a particular Network Termination Point;

Conservation Areas

Numbers in geographic areas where a Conservation Area status is indicated shall only be Adopted or otherwise used in units of 1,000 numbers at a time.

Standard Areas

Numbers in geographic areas with a Standard Area status are allocated in blocks of 10,000 numbers but shall only be Adopted or otherwise used in units of 1,000 numbers in new allocations. For both new and existing allocations, successive unused units of 1,000 numbers shall only be Adopted or otherwise used where justified by demand.

Personal Numbers

Those Adopting Personal Numbers shall not share with any End-User any revenue obtained from providing a Personal Numbering Service

UK-wide Numbers

Those who adopt or otherwise use 03 numbers shall not share with any End- User any revenue obtained from providing a service on those numbers. Those who are allocated 030 blocks by Ofcom shall not Adopt or otherwise use those numbers unless the End-User is a public sector body or a not-for-profit body. Those Communications Providers who Adopt or otherwise use 034 or 037 numbers shall only do so for the purpose of providing a service to a Customer who is migrating from an 084 or 087 number which is exactly identical to the 034 or 037 number except for the second digit (a "matching 084 or 087 number"). An 034 or 037 number shall not be Adopted or otherwise used by a Communications Provider where no matching 084 or 087 number is in use by a Customer.

Public Telephone Network Numbers

(11 digits long, including the '0', unless otherwise stated)

01 and 02 Geographic Numbers

030 UK-wide Numbers at a geographic rate: to be used by public sector bodies and not-for-profit bodies, calls charged at up to the same rate the customer would pay to call a UK Geographic Number, with calls to 030 numbers counting towards inclusive call minutes if the customer has remaining inclusive minutes to UK Geographic Numbers, and included in any discount structures that apply to UK Geographic Numbers

033 UK-wide Numbers at a geographic rate: calls charged at up to the same rate the customer would pay to call a UK Geographic Number, with calls to 033 numbers counting towards inclusive call minutes if the customer has remaining inclusive minutes to UK Geographic Numbers, and included in any discount structures that apply to UK Geographic Numbers

034 UK-wide Numbers at a geographic rate: migrating numbers from matching 084 numbers, calls charged at up to the same rate the customer would pay to call a UK Geographic Number, with calls to 034 numbers counting towards inclusive call minutes if the customer has remaining inclusive minutes to UK Geographic Numbers, and included in any discount structures that apply to UK Geographic Numbers

037 UK-wide Numbers at a geographic rate: migrating numbers from matching 087 numbers, calls charged at up to the same rate the customer would pay to call a UK Geographic Number, with calls to 037 numbers counting towards inclusive call minutes if the customer has remaining inclusive minutes to UK Geographic Numbers, and included in any discount structures that apply to UK Geographic Numbers

055 Corporate Numbers

056 Location Independent Electronic Communications

070 Personal Numbering Service: from 1 September 2007, calls to these numbers that are charged in excess of either 20p per minute or a fixed fee of 20p per call, inclusive (in either case) of value added tax, must be notified to callers at the start of the call before any call charges start to apply, by means of a free-to-caller pre-call announcement which at least states the maximum charge that could be incurred for a call to a personal number by a Customer of the Originating Communications Provider

076 Radiopaging Service

071 to 075 inclusive and 077 to 079 inclusive Mobile Services

080 Special Services - No charge to Customer (except where charges shall be notified to callers at the start of the call)

082 Special Services: Internet for schools

0843 and 0844 Special Services basic rate: charged at up to and including 5p per minute or per call for BT customers, set by Terminating Communications Provider inclusive of value added tax (the price charged by other Originating Communications providers may vary)

0845 Special Services basic rate: charged (before discounts and call packages) at BT's Standard Local Call Retail Price for BT customers inclusive of value added tax (the price charged by other Originating Communications providers may vary)

0870 Special Services higher rate: charged (before discounts and call packages) at BT's Standard National Call Retail Price for BT customers inclusive of value added tax (the price charged by other Originating Communications providers may vary)

0871, 0872 and 0873 Special Services higher rate: charged at up to and including 10p per minute or per call for BT customers, set by Terminating Communications Provider inclusive of value added tax (the price charged by other Originating Communications providers may vary)

090 and 091 Special Services at a Premium Rate, that is charged at rates for Customers of BT which are generally either a) higher than 10p per minute up to and including £1.50 per minute including VAT, or b) fixed fee calls costing over 10p, up to and including £1.50 including VAT

098 Sexual Entertainment Services that are charged at rates for Customers of BT which are a) up to and including £1.50 per minute including VAT, or b) fixed fee calls costing up to and including £1.50 including VAT

118XXX 6-digit numbers used to access a Directory Enquiry Facility

If you would like one of our telecommunications consultants to contact you for further advice, please email contact@it-cts.com with your details.

Next: 0844 Numbers »