I have just viewed my VM bill and to my horror there was a 0.75p charge I did not recognize. I promptly contacted VM and they informed me that it was a personal number; surely it is time that OFCOM got their act together and introduced legislation to stop this blatant scam as I would never knowingly make contact via a personal number. Personal numbers should carry a recorded warning message something similar to 08/09 premium rate numbers, I suspect it may be difficult to warn callers as it is a recipient call. As far as I can make out the scam is to call the number and drop the call to encourage a call back. I do not remember making the call and I imagine most people would not even know they had been charged or even what a personal call it.  I do not claim to be an expert and I am reasonably savvy but as far as I am aware personal numbers cannot be identified, most people would return the call if a connection was lost.   If any member knows how to identify a personal number I would appreciate feedback, I am also concerned because obviously other people some of them vulnerable will also receive these calls and respond accordingly.

Speaking of 070 numbers, I found a company based in Battersea, London who's primary advertised number is an 070 number, and there is NO information about it's call cost.. see here and here

Their main website does have 020 numbers, but also an 0844 number for Dealer Support with NO call info at all.



Hospedia is another large user of 070 numbers!

076 is used mainly for pagers, and this usage is now in decline.

07624 is used for normal mobile phones in the Isle of Man, matching their 01624 landline prefix.

Ofcom banned revenue sharing on 070 numbers in 2009, which saw most of the scams come to an end.

Ofcom's 'National Numbering Plan' details the various allocations: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/numbering/
This page has a useful summary of the main points: http://www.telephonenumbers.co.uk/Prefixes/i=1

When these allocations were initially made in about 1996, the Termination Rate for calls to mobile phones (077, 078, 079) and to personal numbers (070) was about 40p per minute.

Mobile phone contracts did not include calls to other mobile networks. Calls from mobile phones to mobile phones on other networks and to personal numbers cost about 75p per minute. Calls from landlines to mobile phones and to personal numbers were also both expensive.

As the Mobile Termination Rate fell, inclusive cross-network calls to other mobile phones became possible. As it fell further, the number of inclusive minutes rapidly increased. The Mobile Termination Rate was about 4p per minute in 2009 and in 2015 it is about 0.7p per minute. As a comparison, the termination rate for 01 and 02 numbers is about 0.2p per minute, and for 03 numbers is about 0.5p per minute. We have now reached the point where landline providers can offer inclusive calls to standard mobile numbers, and several already do so.

The termination rate for personal numbers has not reduced. It is this fee that pays for the running of the service. To be clear, someone signs up for a personal number and pays nothing for the service. The service is funded by callers, much the same way that 084 and 087 numbers work, except the additional call costs for those are now transparent and declared as the Service Charge.

In the early days of personal numbers, some providers offered revenue sharing and this led to many scams. Revenue sharing was banned in 2009 and most of those scams went away. It is now very obvious that 070 numbers are the only premium rate number range with non-transparent pricing, the Service Charge is built in to the price and not separately declared.

The consultations on 080, 084, 087, 09 and 118 numbers ran to many thousands of pages, took three years to sort out and were followed by an 18 month implementation period. Ofcom were correct to defer the review of other number ranges (such as 055, 056, 070 and 076) otherwise the consultations would have been several thousand pages longer and rumbled on for several more years. Indeed, the complexity of it all may not have led to any meaningful success. Instead, the issues with 08, 09 and 118 numbers have largely been addressed.

The issues with 055, 056, 070 and 076 numbers are different to those for 08, 09 and 118 numbers and it is right that they be dealt with separately. Ofcom has already reviewed 0500 numbers and they will be withdrawn on 3 June 2017. It seems likely that 055, 056, 070 and 076 may well go the same way.

Call the normal geographic number for the ward and ask them to pass on a message asking the patient to give you a call.

After encountering significant failure with the reform of 0870 numbers in 2009 (most users simply moved to a new 0844 or 0871 number to continue gaining revenue share rather than to the newly created 03 numbers), Ofcom realised that tackling issues one prefix at a time was doomed to failure. Ofcom instead kicked off a far wider review of non-geographic numbers in 2010. This promised to look at 05, 070, 076, 08, 09, 116 and 118 numbers.

The first phase covered 08, 09, 116 and 118 numbers and generated thousands of pages of consultations and responses over a three year period, followed by an 18-month implementation period. The changes for 08, 09 and 118 numbers finally came into force on 1 July 2015. They give clarity to the financial benefit enjoyed by the called party and their telecoms provider when an 084, 087, 09 or 118 number is used and made 080 numbers free to call from mobile phones. The changes to 116 numbers were very simple and were implemented at a much earlier date.

In the interim, Ofcom also reviewed 0500 numbers and decided this range will be closed on 3 June 2017. Existing users have until then to move to the matching 0808 5 number or to some other number of their choosing.

Sometime in 2016, Ofcom has to review the success of the recent changes to 08, 09 and 118 numbers to see how they went, and make any necessary tweaks to the regulations. There are a couple of minor changes that appear to be necessary.

Once all of that is out of the way, Ofcom is likely to move on to reviewing 055, 056, 070 and 076 numbers. The issues for these numbers are different to the issues for 08, 09 and 118 numbers. Ofcom were right to hold back on this work and not attempt to do it all at the same time. That would have doubled the size of the consultation and likely doubled the time for the work to be completed. Instead, the important issues affecting 08, 09 and 118 numbers have already been fixed. The forthcoming consultations for 055, 056, 070 and 076 numbers are likely to be much simpler than they otherwise would have been. I expect to see the 055 and 056 ranges either phased out or migrated to the 03 range, and the 070 range completely phased out.

Iain Harrison wrote on Dec 28^th, 2015 at 3:49pm:


I decided to find one of the 070 numbers that Hospedia (the company who runs the TV/Phone system) uses in order to check the cost..

Here are a few for you:

Number: 07081

EE 75p per minute.

O2 66p per minute

BT somewhere between 33 and 52p per minute depending on the full number called (BT are the worst for trying to decipher!)

I think I now have a headache having tried to work that out, so the average caller won't know!

CJT-80 wrote on Dec 30^th, 2015 at 12:33pm:



This might help you : https://www.telecom-tariffs.co.uk/compare.htm?xid=401328&band=PN2&ctype=R1&clen=...