The latest changes to Ofcom’s Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin were made today and relate to an
1) Update note to closed case CW/00999/09/08 – Dispute about per-customer line transaction charges for Carrier Pre-Selection.
2) Update note for compliance case CW/00998/09/08: Own-initiative investigation into Telephonics Integrated Telephony Limited about sales and marketing and the use of information obtained during the transfer process.
Ofcom published today a statement allowing Openreach to shorten the price notification period to customers for wholesale analogue exchange line connection charges. This will enable Openreach to introduce proposed price changes at the earliest appropriate opportunity to enable consumers to benefit from discounts that are passed on.
The statement can be found at: Ofcom.com
Mobile service providers will from today have to adhere to new Ofcom rules designed to prevent mobile mis-selling.
The new rules prohibit mobile service providers and those selling their products and services from engaging in dishonest, misleading or deceptive conduct.
If providers breach the rules they could be fined up to 10 per cent of relevant turnover.
The full news release can be found here: New rules to combat mobile mis-selling come into force
The latest change to Ofcom’s Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin was made today and relates to new case CW/01035/09/09: Own-initiative monitoring and enforcement programme into Mobile Service Provider’s compliance with General Condition 23 in respect of their sales and marketing practices.
Please click on the link below:
Own-initiative monitoring and enforcement programme
The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) is organising its second annual regulatory conference supported by PhonepayPlus.
Following on from last year’s successful conference on UK premium rate regulation, PhonepayPlus is once again working with the MEF to bring you an exceptional line-up of speakers on this year’s theme – mobile micropayments.
Attend this one-day conference to hear the latest updates from key industry regulators, learn how applications and new services are changing the way consumers access and pay for mobile content, and to network with your peers from the UK and overseas.
Cost: £150 (£75 to MEF members) including lunch and refreshments
Venue: Royal Statistical Society, 12 Errol Street, London EC1Y 8LX
Date: Monday, 12 October / 9am-5pm
To register for the conference contact Sarah Roberts at MEF.
The latest change to Ofcom’s Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin was made today and relates to open case CW/01027/06/09 – Dispute between Opal Telecom and BT about Opal’s Fixed Geographic Termination Rates.
The update note sets out Ofcom’s proposals to resolve the dispute and the timeframe for comments.
Please click on the link below for more information:
Ofcom – Dispute between Opal Telecom and BT
This should hopefully help to continue the competition throughout the marketplace ensuring that Telecom’s companies and Telecom’s customers a like get a fair and reasonable service between networks.
The Consumer Protection Test for telephone number allocation focuses on communications providers who have used numbers to cause serious or repeated harm to consumers. Ofcom will not allocate 070 personal numbers, 0871/2/3 special service higher rate numbers and 09 premium rate numbers to anyone who appears on either of two lists. We strongly encourage all providers that assign telephone numbers to others to take best use of numbers and consumer protection into account and to refer to the following two lists that we are publishing when making assignment decisions.
The latest ‘Under Assessment’ and ‘Number Refusal’ lists have today been updated.
For further details please click here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/ioi/numbers/cpt/
Please do not respond to this email. To remove yourself from this update list, use the online forms: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/subscribe/select_list.htm.
Ofcom confirms proposals to strengthen existing rules to protect consumers from fixed line mis-selling and abuse of ‘Cancel Other’
Following a review of the existing regulations to protect consumers from fixed-line mis-selling and abuse of ‘Cancel Other’, Ofcom has today confirmed proposals to make changes to the regulations which will result in a new General Condition being introduced. The changes are a move away from the current approach of requiring communications providers to establish, and comply with, codes of practice, to an approach of putting in place high level prohibitions on all communications providers not to engage in mis-selling activity. Following a short consultation Ofcom expects the new rules to come into force in early 2010.
This is the first part of a package of measures Ofcom is considering strengthen existing rules to protect consumers from fixed line mis-selling and abuse of ‘Cancel Other’. Ofcom will consult further on providing better information to consumers on the potential consequences of switching and the case for mandatory call recordings in a subsequent consultation later in 2009.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/protecting_consumers_misselling/
If you’re confused by call charges or don’t know your 03 from your 0845 numbers, then we have the perfect guide for you.
There are so many different types of phone number these days that it can be hard keeping tabs on how much they cost to call.
Our guide looks at some of the common numbers in use today, what they are used for and how much it costs to call them from a BT landline.
You can then download the guide, print it off and keep it by your phone so that you’ve always got the facts at your fingertips.
The guide gives you the lowdown on geographic numbers – numbers beginning 01 or 02 – as well as 03 numbers, which many organisations now use as an alternative to more expensive 08 numbers.
There’s also information on 030 numbers –used by not for profit organisations – and 07 mobile numbers and 070 personal numbers.
The guide explains all about 08 numbers, ranging from 0800 numbers – which are free to call from a landline – to 0843, 0844 and 0845 numbers, as well as 0870 numbers.
Finally the guide will tell you how much you can expect to pay if you call the more expensive 0871/2/3 numbers and premium rate 090 numbers.
The prices in the guide are based on the cost of calls from a BT landline and other providers’ prices may vary.
Calls from mobiles will almost always be higher and you should check the costs of calls with your provider
Ofcom today updated the numbering plan in the light of changes to the regulation of 0870 telephone numbers which came into effect on 1 August 2009.
These new rules encourage communications providers:
Communications providers that want to continue charging for 0870 calls at rates above those for geographic numbers are now bound by strict rules about how prices are publicised on websites and in promotional material at point of sale.
Communications providers are responsible for making sure their customers know how much they will be charged for calling an 0870 number and they are not allowed to advertise 0870 numbers as “national rate” unless they are charging at geographic rates.
Ofcom’s statement on Changes to 0870 which was published on 23 April 2009 can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/0870calls/0870statement/
The updated numbering plan can be found at:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/ioi/numbers/numplan030809.pdf
