Ofcom makes two new 116 helpline numbers available
Ofcom confirmed this week that it will make two new pan-European 116 numbers available in the UK.
The two numbers are:
- 116 006 which will be used as a helpline for victims of crime. This will be a freephone service where calls to this number will be free unless a pre-call announcement tells the caller that a charge applies. This is often the case with calls made from a mobile; and
- 116 117 for a non-emergency medical on-call service which will always be free of charge in the UK, whether made from a fixed line, mobile or public phone box.
The next stage is for potential relevant service providers to express their interest in using these numbers by 1st October 2010.