A price comparison site has revealed that mobile phone service providers in the UK have increased access charges of call made to numbers starting 084, 087, 09 or 118 by as much as 80 per cent.
The increase in charges were imposed soon after Ofcom asked mobile phone companies to provide better transparency by segregating the call charges into an access charge that goes to the mobile phone company and the service charge that is decided by the organisation that the consumer is calling.
USwitch.com found out that mobile phone providers including Vodafone, O2 and Three have increased access charges of such calls. While Vodafone and O2 have already increased the rates as early as August, Three is set to increase the access charges by a whopping 80 per cent from November 3. This means that the access charge will jump from 25p to 45p and putting in a real-world example, if you call the Strictly Come Dancing vote line on November 3 or after that, the call will cost you 60p per minute, instead of 40p.
While the hike in access charges are not in violation of any of the Ofcom’s rules, the new system from Ofcom that seeks to increase transparency of charges to such numbers relies on people being vigilant and keeping tabs on what they will be charged. This means that customers need to be aware of the update to access charges imposed by mobile phone providers and look for alternatives or opt for a plan that fits their needs.
“Phone providers are now offering a range of pricing options for these numbers, including per-minute access charges as low as 1p per minute”, Ofcom spokesperson said. “Ofcom actively encourages organisations to use 03 numbers, which we set up to cost no more than a normal 01 or 02 number. They must also be included in a customer’s inclusive minutes and discount schemes in the same way.”
From landlines, the Access Charge varies from 5p to 12p per minute depending on which landline provider you use.
From mobiles, the Access Charge varies from 5p to 45p per minute depending on which mobile provider you use.
If you’re calling a premium rate number with a Service Charge of up to £6 per call and/or up to £3.60 per minute, the Access Charge is a minor part of the call cost.
Likewise for calls to Directory Enquiries numbers where the Service Charge can be up to £7 per call and/or up to £3.60 per minute.
The Access Charge is irrelevant when calling customer service lines for retailers and passenger transport companies, helplines for banks and insurance companies and government departments and public services.
These sectors no longer use 084 or 087 numbers. Over the last couple of years, most of these have migrated to inclusive or geographic-rate 03 numbers.
What the article failed to note is that before 1 July 2015, on calls to 09 and 118 numbers, landline operators retained anything up to £1 per minute and mobile operators retained anything up to £4 per minute. Now that they have to declare their cut as the Access Charge, this has come down dramatically. Landline operators retain no more than 12p per minute and mobile operators retain no more than 45p per minute. Even though this is an increase on the rates that applied from 1 July 2015 until some time in August or September 2015, it is a huge drop compared to the rates that were previously in force in the more than ten years leading up to 1 July 2015.