Why organisations should move to 03 numbers immediately.

We have read with intense interest in some notable telecoms forums & blogs in the 08 space recently and find it genuinely moving to note that there is a lot of emotion centred around the use of so called ‘local rate’ 0845 and ‘national rate’ 0870 Numbers numbers.

There have been lots of people writing and sending Freedom of Information requests to government departments referring to 0845 rebates that the government is receiving for their various helpline numbers. These responses normally come back vague and not helpful in any way and this is because it is not in the interests of those bodies to provide anything meaningful in terms of actual numbers, for it would just frighten and shock the generic public on just how much money the government was making in a form of indirect taxes.

Often these numbers are for benefits or some form of tax, to report a crime and more often than not it is the marginalised segments of society that can least afford to dial 0845 and 0870 Numbers numbers.

Therefore, would it not be prudent to make use of 03 Numbers in cases where there is a marginalised segment of society such as the elderly or the infirm or those most in need, to ensure that they were not penalised for securing a basic human right.

I once spoke with the former procurement director at National Express Trains and he said they made as much out of people dialling 0870 Numbers as they did selling tickets on trains. Is this not an admission that something is quite wrong.

This seems to be another way of further polarising society in terms of wealth and cannot be constructive to society.

It would seem that 03 numbers are far better for businesses that are concerned that customer service is important to them.

0845 numbers are charged at rates of 4p/min and up to £1.50/minute from most mobile networks. Often people such as the young have pay-as-you-go mobile phone and the rates to dial 08 numbers from these tariffs arrangements can often be exorbitant. This should be set against the cost of dialling an 01/02/03 number which is often free from most landlines and in some cases free from most mobile tariffs. Sure , the networks operators would have to stump up some of the cost for change but so what – they make vast sums of profit each year and can afford it.

03 numbers are a great concept in view of their socially acceptable nature and we believe that Ofcom should promote the idea of this service far more than they already have. Its the telecommunication industry’s responsibility to ensure that 03 Numbers are used more and more in businesses.