Cable & Wireless Plc’s Mercury Communications Ltd seems to have run into trouble with its trial of personal numbering announced last August: at that stage it was saying that trials of the technology – which would enable subscribers to use any phone to inform the network of their whereabouts – would begin in the autumn of last year. Now, however, it is refusing to confirm that the trials have actually gone ahead, saying only that It’s taken longer than we anticipated. Similarly, it has backtracked on its statement that services are to go live this autumn: the official line is that it is too early to say when they will be available. Mercury says to expect an announcement in a couple of months. Vivienne Peters, chief executive of the Telecommunications Users Association, believes that Mercury’s reticence may not be because of problems with the trial, but because it wants to keep the plan under wraps in the fear that British Telecommunications Plc will try to steal its thunder by pre-launching a similar service.
