Posted on: 5th August 2026, by Magrathea
Welcome to the August newsletter, combining news from Magrathea and around the industry.
What’s included
- Ofcom Statement: Tackling scam calls from abroad
- Ofcom Statement: Combatting mobile messaging scams
- Home Office Call for Evidence: Anonymous access to phone numbers and call routing
- Reminder: Fraud
- Service Spotlight: Porting Desk
- Service Spotlight: Restricted Tariff options
- Events and outings
- Magrathea Musings
Ofcom Statement: Tackling scam calls from abroad
We have been waiting a while to see the outcome of this consultation that closed in October last year. This statement finally confirms the approach Ofcom want industry to take to reduce the risk of scam calls originating outside the UK but presenting a UK mobile number, which is shown to increase the chance of the call being answered and the caller being trusted.
We had serious reservations about the approach Ofcom consulted on, you can read about that in our previous article here. It seems Ofcom have been swayed on a few points but ultimately the result is that if you cannot verify a call as having genuine use of a UK mobile presentation number you must change it to ‘withheld’. This change must be in place by 15th July 2027, although Ofcom are encouraging providers to act sooner.
We will be studying the statement in detail before preparing a full briefing for our clients on how this might impact you and how we will support implementation. Meanwhile you can see the statement here.
Ofcom Statement: Combatting mobile messaging scams
This statement is accompanied by detailed guidance to support implementation by January 2027 for person-to-person messages and July 2027 for application-to-person messages and should be reviewed by anyone providing mobile messaging services in whatever capacity.
In brief new measures for P2P include:
- Setting volume limits on PAYG SIMs
- Having processes in place to proactively receive scam reports
- Blocking numbers used by scammers
- Identifying and blocking scam messages in transit
And measures for A2P include:
- Conducting due diligence
- Preventing use of fake sender IDs
- Conducting ongoing KYT checks
- Applying incident management processes
- Having processes in place to proactively receive scam reports
- Identifying and blocking scam messages in transit
You can read full details here.
Home Office Call for Evidence: Anonymous access to phone numbers and call routing
The Home Office has launched a call for evidence to look at how criminals use the UK telephone system to carry out fraud. Inviting communications providers and other industry stakeholders to share their views on this complex topic.
The exercise seeks to better understand how criminals exploit access to UK telephone numbers and call routing, helping to inform future measures to combat telecoms-enabled fraud while supporting legitimate providers.
The call for evidence closes on 7th October 2026. Further information including how to respond is available on the GOV.UK website.
Magrathea will be submitting a response to help support the efforts of the Fraud Strategy released in March whilst pressing for a considered and proportionate approach to number management in order to protect innovation and competition. If you would like to discuss our response and have input please do get in touch.
Reminder: Fraud
Fraud remains an ongoing challenge across the telecommunications industry, and holiday periods can present additional opportunities for fraudsters, particularly when businesses are operating with reduced staffing or colleagues are covering for one another.
While our network monitoring continues to help identify suspicious activity, there are also simple steps you can take to reduce the risk of fraud. We encourage all customers to review our fraud prevention advice, which includes practical recommendations and best practice to help protect your business.
You can find this information in the ‘Telecoms Fraud’ section of The Guide. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the security features available on your account, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Service Spotlight: Porting Desk
As a wholesaler we provide our clients with the ability to port numbers. Our porting desk has a strong track record in managing large volumes of straight forward ports successfully and, thanks to strong relationships with our porting partners, we also are skilled and successful at dealing with the ones that are more complex.
We recently featured the team in one of our spotlights, giving an insight into their role, the challenges they tackle and what makes a successful port.
Read the staff spotlight to meet the team, or get in touch if you’d like to discuss your porting requirements or find out more about how we can help.
Service Spotlight: Restricted Tariff options
Our Restricted Tariff options give you greater control over your outbound calling by limiting the destinations that can be dialled from your outgoing calling account.
Available on both our Standard and Gold Route tariffs, you can choose to restrict calls to destinations with a rate of either 3p per minute or 15p per minute, helping to reduce the risk of unexpected call costs.
Restrictions can be applied quickly and easily through our Client Portal or RestAPI. If you don’t already have access to these tools, or you can’t see the Restricted Tariff option in the left-hand menu of your Client Portal, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to enable the feature or update your access permissions.
Events and outings
Our highlight for July was the Comms Council UK Awards on 16 July, which we were once again proud to sponsor. As always, it was a fantastic opportunity to catch up with familiar and new faces from across the industry in the wonderful setting of Kitty Hawk, London.
Congratulations to all the winners and highly commended entrants. We know how much work, innovation and dedication goes into every submission, so well done to everyone who was shortlisted.
August is traditionally a quieter month as many people take a well-earned summer break, but our events calendar soon picks up again. We’re already looking forward to attending Connected Britain on 9th and 10th September and hope to see some of you there.
Magrathea Musings
July has been a month of reflecting, celebrating and planning forward. Firstly reflecting; our relationships with clients is the driver for everything we do here so we really appreciate all of the good wishes sent our way for our 25th anniversary.
We have been celebrating, with cake and some bubbles and of course tea. See here for a few more details about our journey so far, the people behind Magrathea and why we’re excited about the future.
We have also been planning, we have now started our new business year and are very excited about what is to come next, especially the launching of our mobile product which is currently undergoing testing.
For the immediate future with all this lovely sunshine we hope our customers might get chance to have a well-earned break. Regardless, we will be here as usual to provide our fantastic support whether its rain or shine.
Kind regards
Client Support, Magrathea
The information contained in this guidance is for your information only and is not intended to be relied on. It does not constitute legal professional advice, nor is it a substitute for you obtaining your own legal professional advice. Magrathea accepts no liability whatsoever for any errors, omissions or statements in this guidance or for any loss which may arise from your use of this guidance