Non-geographic telephone numbers are used by many businesses and individuals in the UK in order to present themselves at a national level with a contact number which is not linked in to a specific area or region. There are many benefits of using a non-geographic number that compliment this basic purpose, including the ability to re-route calls to the number on to various telephones, voicemail services, mobiles and many other options. This effectively turns the numbers used into gateways to roaming end-users who will not always be able to confirm their availability at a single location and for those who need to be able to change the settings linked to the operation of their non-geographic number at short notice.
BT first introduced non-geographic numbers back in 1985, when the first 0345 numbers became available. These were initially advertised under the 'Lo-Call' brand and were primarily intended to provide businesses with a way of offering cheap calls to customers and clients. The branding was based on a pun which played with the word 'local', as calls to the 0345 numbers were charged at a local rate. Similar non-geographic numbers were also offered by Mercury Communications to customers of its cable telephone service, using the 0645 prefix. Both the 0345 and 0645 were later discontinued in favour of 0845 and until 2004 all call charges associated with 0845 numbers. were at a local rate. However, the cost for calls to geographically tethered phone numbers within the UK was unified in that year, which eliminated the difference between local and national rates and made calls to
0845 numbers slightly more expensive compared to the restructured geographic tariffs under the new pricing rules.
0845 numbers were followed by other 08 numbers, including 0870, 0871 and 0844, although in its original form the 0990 prefix was used in place of these more modern alternatives. 0870 numbers were capable of generating revenue until new rules came in which made profit sharing out of the question, although the alternative 0871 and 0844 numbers, introduced early in the year 2000, were intended to allow further generation of income for businesses of all sizes. Both of these newer 08 numbers have fixed rates regardless as to the time of day and these are the best way to benefit financially from operating a phone service that does not involve premium rate lines costing 50p per minute or more.
Revenue sharing on non-geographic numbers was first introduced in 1996 when BT was almost unchallenged at the head of the telecommunications industry. However, a lot has changed in the intervening years and the home phone market is swamped by competition from TalkTalk, which is owned by the Carphone Warehouse, amongst others. This has resulted in a price war to offer consumers the cheapest call package possible with inclusive minutes. This has made calls to 08 numbers effectively free for many.
In 2007 a new non-geographic number prefix was introduced, beginning in 03 and allowing customers calling from mobile phones to contact businesses without having to incur the often extortionate charges that network providers place on calls to 08 numbers. Calls to non-geographic numbers beginning in 03 will deduct minutes from a customer\'s monthly allocation rather than costing more on top of their basic price plan. As a result, many businesses and non-profit organisations now use 03 numbers as their first point of contact.
