This statement sets out Ofcom’s decisions in relation to making additional numbers available for premium rate sexual entertainment services and additional routing codes to facilitate mobile number portability. Ofcom has decided to:
- designate the number range 098 for premium rate sexual entertainment services;
- to open 0982 for initial allocations;
- close the existing 0908 and 0909 SES ranges to prevent further allocation to communications providers;
- consider the issue of the most appropriate number range for adult services where the content is billed separately from the carriage of the call in a forthcoming consultation on the 09 number range structure as a whole; and
- designate codes 7603 to 7622 inclusive and 7682 to 7692 inclusive as mobile number portability codes (and protect from allocation the corresponding paging numbers).
In order to reflect the decisions set out in this statement, the National Telephone Numbering Plan (“the Plan”) and the application form for 09 numbers (“09 application form”) need to be modified. The May 2006 consultation set out the notifications of proposed modifications together with necessary legal tests to the make modifications. The final notification of modifications to the provisions of the Plan and the direction under condition 17.9 in respect of the 09 application form are in Annexes 4 and 5 of this statement. The modifications come into immediate effect on publication.