•   200% price hikes* as OFCOM legislation comes into force
•   ‘A third’ of UK businesses could be affected

Opal, the B2B division of the TalkTalk Group, is warning that tens of thousands of UK businesses could face soaring 0870 telephone bills in September with increases of up to 200%, because of failure to act over new Ofcom legislation. 

On 1st August 2009, in an attempt to promote transparency for the consumer, Ofcom changed regulations around the use of the number sequence ‘0870’. The number is currently used by tens of thousands of businesses across the UK, to generate income through call rebates, often to finance enhanced call services.

However, Opal’s research indicates that up to a third** of UK businesses using the number sequence have been unable to implement the changes in time despite intending to – due to time and manpower constraints.

This means those businesses have now been automatically migrated to a new tariff from August 1st where they will be charged for all calls to their 0870 number usage for the very first time.  With increases of up to 200% more, it really could be black September for thousands of businesses as the first bills arrive since the new legislation. 

Geoff Wilson, Finance Director from Opal, said: “Although we appreciate the work done by Ofcom, there have been serious deadline issues. Switching to an alternative number by August 1st has heaped enormous pressure on businesses, and many have simply failed to make the required changes by the deadline.

“Some organisations will still be calculating the impact of changing their 0870 number to an alternative – working out where the number is currently published and trying to understand the cost of changing literature, websites and so on.”

The Ofcom regulation will force price hikes for all businesses that have failed to migrate to an alternative number sequence. For example, a business taking 50,000 peak minutes a month on its 0870 numbers and receiving a rebate of over £1,500 each month pre-regulation could be subsequently charged more than £1,200 post-regulation each month.

Wilson continues: “This means that many companies, often through no fault of their own, will now face enormous bills in September for essentially the same service, something that is made all the more challenging by the continued recession.

“While Opal has invested heavily in communicating the legislation early to its customer base, there remain many customers that have simply run out of time.  There is also no guarantee how much information other operators have been giving their customers and how effective they have been in doing this.

“However, it is not too late to act. Any business still to make the change away from ‘0870’ can do so quickly and easily, and Opal provides numerous options for replacing the lost revenues.”

More information about the options available to businesses are available from Opal direct. Visit www.Opal.co.uk for more details.