Tens of thousands of small and medium businesses face a
trebling of their phone bills in September if they have not already
moved off their old premium-priced non-geographic numbers.
The numbers affected start with 0870, 0871, 0872, 0873 and
09.
Opal, the B2B division of
the TalkTalk Group, said up to a third of UK businesses could face
increases of up to 200%, because they have not responded to new
Ofcom rules.
Opal said a business that took 50,000 peak minutes a month on
its 0870 numbers and received a rebate of over £1,500 could in
future have to pay in more than £1,200 a month.
Ofcom
warned in July 2006 that it was changing its rules to provide
consumers with greater transparency over the cost of using 08XX and
09 numbers.
Many SMEs used the numbers to earn extra income through call
rebates, often to finance enhanced call services. The new rules
came into force on 1 August.
Opal's research into its 100,000 customers found that up to a
third that use the numbers were unable to respond to the changes
due to time and manpower constraints.
They have now been migrated automatically to a new tariff from 1
August where they will be charged for all calls to their 0870
numbers.
"This really could be a black September for thousands of
businesses when the first bills arrive," said Opal finance director
Geoff Wilson.
"Some firms are still calculating the impact of changing their
0870 number to an alternative, working out where the number is
currently published and trying to understand the cost of changing
literature, websites and so on," he said.
The Telephone Helplines Association has published a
summary of the changes.
How to avoid the price hike
It's not too late to save your bacon from the 0870 debacle, says
Opal:
Option 1
Keep your existing number range, but use the revenue from it to
pay for enhanced call services and back-office functions.
Option 2
Change to an alternative sequence that generates revenues, but
communicate the number change internally and externally.
Opal has published a fuller
guide to the options.