The regulations, which will come into effect in July, will govern the way in which calls made by consumers to certain non-geographic number ranges are calculated and charged. In addition, the regulations will also introduce new requirements for advertising used to promote these number ranges.
According to Union Street, these regulations represent a significant challenge for resellers' billing processes, particularly with regard to a requirement for segmenting consumers’ call charges into separate Service and Access charges, both of which will need to be clearly displayed on consumer bills. In its latest version of aBILLity, the company has taken steps to make fulfilling this requirement a straightforward process, and will be upgrading its channel partners over the coming months.
Although the regulations will only apply to calls made by consumers, as opposed to businesses, Union Street believes that changes in the supply chain will have implications for all resellers, even if they deal exclusively with business customers. The company cites the introduction of new charge groups and dial codes as one such area, and in response has introduced new consultancy services that give its reseller clients the option of outsourcing work involved in updating dial codes and charge groups to Union Street.
Union Street’s Managing Director Tony Cook commented, “Ofcom’s new regulations present a number of challenges for the channel community. At Union Street we have acted swiftly to update our aBILLity software and introduce new services that will help to minimise disruption for our partners and enable them to comply with the new regulations going forward. We would advise all resellers to make any necessary enquiries with their suppliers and begin preparations soon to ensure they are ready by the deadline."