Special Phone Numbers Likely - But At A Price
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday January 27, 1997
First it was personalised number plates. Soon we may see the same phenomena with phone numbers. And companies or individuals who want desirable numbers could soon be paying through the nose for them.
The Federal Government decided in the last Budget that the phone companies - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone - should now pay for allocations of phone numbers, a move which the Government hopes will raise $30 million over four years.
The charges will be levied on the phone companies, but it is almost certain that they will pass the charges on to consumers.
The Telecommunications regulator, Austel, has circulated a paper to the industry putting forward how it proposes to charge the phone companies for the numbers, and this will help determine how much the customer will pay.
Under its preferred option, a 10-digit number will be charged at 17 cents a year. But as the numbers get shorter, the charges will rise sharply: by a multiple of 10 for each number dropped off.
The maximum charge is $100,000 for any one number, and carriers will not be allowed to hand back blocks of numbers unless they are intact, to avoid them picking out the best numbers.
The most expensive numbers will be the short free call numbers beginning with 13 which are used by airlines and the like. But mobile phone numbers will also attract a charge.
The carriers will not pay for blocks of geographic phone numbers - which is what most Australians have - but once the carriers begin charging for other numbers there may well develop a market in special phone numbers: numbers which spell out names.
Most phone key pads have an alphabet which corresponds with the numbers and can be used to spell out words. This is very popular with companies in the United States, but has not taken hold in Australia.
Emergency numbers and community organisations using numbers starting with 11 will be given exemptions from the number charges.
© 1997 Sydney Morning Herald