Why not having an 03 number may handicap your business.

03 Numbers were introduced by Ofcom in March 2007 as part of strategy to ensure that organisations could replace their a href=”http://www.intelesis.co.uk/08-0870.php”>0870 Numbers when they were made chargeable to receive calls in August 2009. This was a result of a public backlash to the use of revenue sharing 08 numbers.

For the first time more people are making calls from mobile telephone handsets and the 0800 ranges are now becoming scarce, hence the rise of 0808 freephone numbers for organisations.

Mobile phone operators seem resistant to change over the charging of calls made to a href=”http://www.intelesis.co.uk/08-0800.php”>0800> number from mobiles and continue to charge upgrade of 40p/min for these so called ‘free’ calls. a href=”http://www.intelesis.co.uk/03-VirtualUK08.php”>03 Numbers on the other hand are free to call from most mobiles and hence the reason most companies are not moving towards a href=”http://www.intelesis.co.uk/03-VirtualUK08.php”>03 Numberranges.
When it is considered that nearly 40% of all consumer calls are made from mobile phones its no wonder that not to have

As are charged at the same rate as 01/02 numbers then typically most people have these as part of a free inclusive call package. Therefore they are rightly classified as the new freephone numbers

An article in the Economist dated 13th August discussed the fact that although mobile phone networks are not nearly as good as landlines more people are using these networks than making calls from their landlines. It is estimated that by 2025 the last landline will be cut off in America, a slightly disturbing statistic for vendors who manufacturer telephone handsets in the fixed landline market-place and well whilst we think it is a bit far fetched, it does serve to illustrate a good point.

a href=”http://www.intelesis.co.uk/03-VirtualUK08.php”>03 Numbers can come complete with online statistics and are lower to run than 0800 and 0808 numbers hence the increasing likelihood of their popularity. Many operations have now adopted these numbers but they are principally public sector operations like police forces, BBC, Pioneer and radio stations e.g. The Metropolitan Police (0300 123 1212), The British Heart Foundation (0300 330 3311) NHS Change4Life (0300 123 3434), Comic Relief (03457 910 910), Nikon UK (0330 123 0932).

03 number ranges explained

0300 & 0303 Numbers – Public Bodies and Not for profit organisations (eligibility required) – please call us to discuss this on 0844 844 4555
0330 & 0333 Numbers – No eligibility required so all companies and organisations can use these numbers

What is the implication for all of this?

Around 88% of mobile contract users do not currently exceed their mobile minutes packages and it is further estimated that business users tend to use more than 40% of their total telephone bill on mobile phones so not to have an a href=”http://www.intelesis.co.uk/03-VirtualUK08.php”>03 Numbermay actually handicap businesses when they could be lowering the cost barrier to entry to most users.

For most businesses to ignore the a href=”http://www.intelesis.co.uk/03-VirtualUK08.php”>03 Numbering rangewill actually handicap them as the best available numbers will disappear towards the businesses that understand the major importance of this move by the regulating body.