The UK Office of Telecommunications proposes to take over management of telephone numbering from British Telecommunications Plc and make allocations to operators, starting early next year. The plan is set out in its consultation document on the future of telephone numbering in the UK, published yesterday. Director General Don Cruickshank wants number portability so that customers can take their numbers with them when they switch from British Telecom. It also proposes to make another 8,000m new numbers available by extending the extra 1 pre-fix due to take place in spring 1995 by using the digits 2 to 9 as new prefixes well. Cruickshank added that he would take a view later on who will bear the costs of phone number portability. British Telecom says it is planning a formal response to the proposals, but it won’t like them.
