Ofcom announces new rules to crack down on high-cost marketing calls

Ofcom today announced caps on the amount that can be taken from 070 numbers, citing reasons that often people mistakenly assume they are mobile numbers and call or answer numbers that they otherwise may not have.

070 numbers are ‘follow me’ numbers, which allow the caller to disguise the original number by having the call routed via an 070 number.

Estimations put 2.6m calls to 070 numbers last year.

To stop companies or individuals being able to use the numbers for scams, Ofcom is introducing a 0.5p per minute cap on call charges, meaning the number of ‘shock bills’ should be reduced significantly.

Jonathan Oxley, Ofcom’s Competition Group Director, said:

“Millions of calls are made to 070 numbers, but many people aren’t aware of the high costs of calling them. This can lead to people receiving much higher bills than expected. So we’re slashing the wholesale cost of connecting 070 numbers. There’s no reason why phone companies shouldn’t pass this saving on to their customers as soon as possible.”