Lobbying by the British Security Industry Association and partner organisations, the BSIA reports, on the regulation of calls to 0870 numbers, has led to Ofcom no longer requiring telecoms networks to introduce pre-call announcements on 0870 calls.
BSIA Technical Director, Alex Carmichael, says: "The changes proposed by Ofcom would have had major consequences for the intruder alarm industry and its customers. The big issue for the industry was the introduction of pre-call announcements on an 0870 number before the caller is connected. If this proposal had been implemented, security communications devices which use the 0870 range of numbers could well have ‘timed-out’ if a pre-call announcement was added and a recognised phone signal not heard. This could have resulted in alarm signals not getting through to the emergency services, with potentially life-threatening consequences.
"The BSIA has worked closely with Flextel and other key partner organisations to lobby Ofcom to rethink their plans. The news that pre-call announcements will no longer be added to 0870 numbers is an achievement for the security industry and demonstrates the value that this kind of lobbying work can bring."
Ofcom will explain their revised proposals on this issue in a statutory consultation document which will be published in the next few weeks.
