Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-04-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will give Ofcom the power to set or cap access charges with regard to 084 and 087 numbers.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Under the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom already has the power to impose tariff principles and maximum prices for the purpose of protecting consumers. Ofcom made changes in July 2015 to simplify non-geographic numbers and make call pricing clearer for consumers. This included making Freephone 080 and 116 numbers free from all telephones; and imposing a common simplified structure on revenue generating numbers – 084, 087, 090, 091 and 118 – which splits the price of the call between the phone company and the call service. Ofcom will be reviewing the effectiveness of these new regulations after their first year of operation and will consider whether further regulation should be imposed.
