05 May 2008
Responding to Ofcom's announcement today on Changes to 0870, Consumer Panel Chair Anna Bradley said:
"We welcome Ofcom's moves towards ensuring 0870 numbers cost no more than calls to geographic numbers, and increasing call price transparency. The continued high prices of calling 0870 numbers, particularly from mobile phones, remains a shame and a scandal.
"We call on the industry to do the right thing by their customers. They should charge the geographic rate for 0870 calls and include such calls in customer call packages. It is simply unacceptable that consumers are paying up to 25p a minute to call 0870 numbers from mobile phones, or 10p a minute from a landline, when compared to the lower costs of calling geographic numbers."
Ends
NOTES FOR EDITORS AND CSEs
1. Changes to 0870 and the Ofcom press release are available on the Ofcom website www.ofcom.org.uk
2. The figures for call rates have been taken from the Consumer Advice Bureaux report Are You Being Served?
(www.citizensadvice.org.uk/pdf_are_you_being_served.pdf)
3. The Consumer Panel was established to advise Ofcom on the consumer interest in the markets it regulates. The Panel is independent and sets its own agenda. Visit www.communicationsconsumerpanel.org.uk for more information.
4. The Panel's members appointed by Ofcom are:
CONTACT
Ofcom Consumer Panel Ben Wallis 020 7981 3741 / 07920 057245
benjamin.wallis@communicationsconsumerpanel.org.uk