Member Article

Teesside to become only UK area with two dialling codes

Teesside telecoms boss, Mike Odysseas, has warned that Teesside will become the only area in the UK with two dialling codes due to recent changes announced by Ofcom.

It is due to the way in which Ofcom distributes blocks of 1000 numbers each time, and has caused large amounts of numbers to go unused or occupied.

To overcome this in the short term, people in the area will have to use the 01642 code to dial a local number. This will allow Ofcom to introduce new suffix numbers with added ‘zero’ and ‘one’ digits.

Teesside has previously been overlooked when new area codes have been distributed, despite the area being noted as a high risk of number shortages.

However Odyssey has warned this will only provide enough numbers to last for another five to ten years, making it a short term solution.

This then becomes significantly more serious, as Teesside may in future become the only location in the UK to have a second area code causing local calls to become unnecessarily difficult.

Mike Odysseas, managing director at Odyssey Systems Ltd, said: “Businesses in the area are now paying the price for the severe mismanagement of the 01642 code by Ofcom which has continually ignored Teesside’s requirement for an expanded system.

“I would suggest that Ofcom improve the way in which they distribute numbers by issuing them in smaller blocks, as at the moment it is extremely wasteful. It may also be worth trying to regain some of the numbers that are currently going unused, to enable the area to maintain a single area code for as long as possible.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mike Odysseas .