Ofcom considers that there needs to be greater clarity on the restrictions on the use of 03 telephone numbers, specifically whether Communication Providers who host 03 numbers are prohibited from sharing the revenue they earn from calls to their 03 numbers with callers who call their 03 numbers.
In the absence of a restriction on such arrangements, if the revenue that a Communication Provider receives for terminating calls to its 03 numbers exceeds the associated cost, Ofcoms considers it may attempt to incentivise callers to call its 03 numbers by sharing some of this revenue with them – either directly or indirectly, for example by offering benefits- or services-in-kind.
Recently, Ofcom observed the emergence of telephony services that offer customers financial or other benefits in return for calling their 03 numbers and they are minded to remove the revenue share.
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