Over the past 8 years there has been a regular flow of press articles complaining about the payment for calling 0870 telephone numbers that businesses receive. There have even been websites created to combat this, where the "real numbers" underlying the 0870 number are disclosed, thus allowing callers to bypass the 0870 charge.
The historical description of 0870 numbers as "national rate" is now far from reality as they can cost up to 5 times as much as an actual national call. This has led to Ofcom announcing that a serious pricing change must take place. This will have a serious impact on many businesses with an 0870 number, for it will mean a loss in revenue from incoming calls and it is a distinct possibility that companies may soon be charged in a similar way to 0800.
Therefore companies need to take action now to avoid such costs. Allan Packer, business development manager for Hampshire based communications company m12 solutions, added "With the end of the 0870 rebate imminent and the possibility of new charges on these numbers, businesses must take action now to ensure they suffer no negative effects to these changes. M12 Solutions are in an excellent position to review your current situation and present you with a range of alternative"
Ofcom announce that these proposed changes will begin to take shape in April 2007 and also aim to create a new range of business numbers that offer a different pricing structure, which will start with the prefix 03 | 
