First London (020) 3 number blocks
released from 1st June 2005
Ofcom has announced that it will release the first blocks of London (020)
3 numbers to telecoms providers from 1st June 2005. Providers will then
start to issue these numbers to residential and business customers in
London from autumn 2005.
Section 63 of the Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to seek the
best use of appropriate telephone numbers and to encourage efficiency
and innovation.
Ofcom announced (020) 3 as an additional number range for London in July
2004 to meet the growing demand for new numbers in the capital. Ofcom
currently allocates nearly 400,000 new London numbers every year.
There is no change to existing London (020) numbers beginning (020) 7
and (020) 8. Residential and business customers do not need to change
any of their existing numbers, and new (020) 7 and (020) 8 numbers will
continue to be issued by telecoms providers to customers throughout 2005
and beyond.
Between now and June 2005 Ofcom will be closely monitoring consumer awareness
of (020) 3 as an additional number range for London, as part of a communications
strategy which will be coordinated with the telecoms
industry.
Ofcom research shows that nearly two thirds of those who ever call London
are aware that the dialling code for the capital starts with (020). The
research also shows that by August 2004, one month after the additional
(020) 3 range was announced, 12% of those who ever call London were already
aware of the introduction of the additional range.
The full research report is available on Ofcom's website at:
www.ofcom.org.uk.
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