6 November 2007
Industry watchdog Ofcom has reportedly delayed plans to end the preponderance of 0870 corporate information lines - whose high charges have been criticised by consumer groups.
Previously, Ofcom had said that it would take action to bring the call charges down to the national standard landline rate by February 2008.
Currently, 0870 numbers charge up to 40p per minute.
Nevertheless, the Guardian reports that the watchdog has delayed the implementation of its cost-cutting scheme by a "short period".
Under the plans, firms who continued to charge a higher rate would be forced to play consumers a pre-recorded message prior to calls, informing them of the extra fees which would be levied.
Commenting on the delay, a spokesperson for Ofcom said: "There's no change to our overall policy. The key point about these changes is bringing down the price of calls to 0870, which will happen in spring next year [and] the pre-call announcement option would only be relevant to providers who chose to depart from that general rule.
"We will keep any delay to a minimum."
The 0870 lines are currently used by many businesses - as well as some government departments.
Latest figures cited by the newspaper suggest that calls to numbers with an 08 prefix cost consumers £850 million per year.