CORONAVIRUS BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING

On April 1, 2019

There have been concerns about directory enquiry prices rising steeply. Some providers charge almost £20 for an average 90 second call. The price charged by the most popular service – 118 118 – for a 90 second call is now £11.23.[1]

The cost of making these calls are now well over what people expect to pay. The new price cap will protect people from receiving unexpectedly high bills and make directory enquiry services more affordable.

Ofcom’s research estimates that around 450,000 consumers a year are paying £2.4m in total more than they expect for these calls. While the number of calls being made to 118 services is falling by around 40% every year, more than a million people in the UK, still use these services. To allow providers time to adjust their prices and billing systems, the price cap will come into force today.