Posted on: 1st August 2024, by Magrathea
Welcome to the August newsletter, combining news from Magrathea and around the industry.
What’s included
- Paying invoices in Euros (€)
- Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) shutdown plans
- Planned Engineering Works – MAGIC Portal update
- Ofcom statement summary – blocking more calls with spoofed numbers
- Ofcom statement summary – prohibiting inflation linked price rises
- One Touch Switch – approaching go live!
- Worldwide IT Outage – lessons for us all? (article link)
- Service Spotlight: Low balance warnings
Paying invoices in Euros (€)
We always appreciate feedback from our clients, this helps us to ensure we are working on the areas you will benefit from the most. Our European clients have recently asked us for the ability to pay in Euros and have their pricing in Euros.
We’ve taken this on board and, for the first stage, we have quickly introduced an update on our Sterling invoices for these customers showing the amount to be paid in Euros, if they prefer to do that. We have a separate bank account for these payments which is clearly listed on the relevant invoice. Please note that no alternative invoice will be offered at this time.
We have further plans underway to offer Euro pricing for some services and we will be in contact directly as and when these become available to you, and of course for these services all invoicing will be in Euro.
Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) shutdown plans
It is widely known that Openreach have delayed the PSTN switch off date to January 2027, however, they are still pushing ahead with plans to try and move as much WLR business off their network by December 2025, the original date.
We have received notice that our contract will terminate on 31st December 2025, the plan being that if any lines are left running we will need to accept a new contract for the remaining period and that contract will have a much shorter notice period.
As the majority of our WLR line provision is for the business market we will be pressing ahead with our program to have everyone migrated by December 2025. If any of our clients foresee a problem with this plan please do get in touch with us to discuss the options but all of our engagement to date would suggest we are on track.
Planned Engineering Works – MAGIC Portal Update
You will have received notice that our MAGIC Portal will be out of service between 10am and 1pm on Sunday (4th August). This is to allow for some feature updates and the majority this time are for our internal use, further streamlining the admin tools for our porting team use, helping them to be as efficient as possible.
Ofcom statement summary – blocking more calls with spoofed numbers
Ofcom have finally released a statement, which can be seen here confirming that new rules will come in requiring providers to block calls that originate outside of the UK but present with a UK caller line identity (CLI). We already do this with calls that have a UK network number but from January 2025 this must include presentation number too in order to close a loophole that is still allowing many spoofed calls into the country.
There are of course some exceptions, such as when a customer is legitimately placing calls from abroad whilst representing a UK company and our existing exception tools will be expanded to help control this kind of usage.
We will be engaging with any clients that we believe could be impacted by this to ensure minimal disruption to legitimate usage, but if you have any concerns or are aware that you have a valid exception that has not already been notified to us, please do get in touch.
Meanwhile, Ofcom have issued two new ‘Call for Input’ documents specifically relating to mobile spoofing and messaging. We will review these for the next newsletter but they can be found here and here.
Ofcom statement summary – prohibiting inflation linked price rises
There was no real doubt about the outcome of this consultation, with some providers already implementing changes on a voluntary basis. However, from January 2025 it will be a requirement that all new contracts provided to residential and small business consumers no longer include inflation linked price increases to core subscriptions. Going forward, consumers who are to have mid-contract price hikes must be notified from the start what value the increase will be in pounds and pence. The full statement can be found here.
One Touch Switch (OTS) – Go live 12th September 2024!
With only six weeks to go until the OTS process will be mandatory for all residential switches, we urge any client who has this type of customer to check they have put in place plans to comply.
The path for any provider of residential services is clear and if you haven’t already, you must engage with TOTSCo as a matter of urgency. They have produced a readiness checklist you can use here
Meanwhile here at Magrathea we are working on incorporating the new number porting process, known as OTS Porting, and hope to be able to support our clients impacted by this requirement in good time.
The path for business providers is not yet so clear but we will keep you updated as things progress. Meanwhile, you can see our simple guide here.
Service Spotlight: Low balance warnings
For all of our clients using pre-pay outbound accounts, you most likely make use of our low balance warning emails. However, did you also know you can adjust the level at which you are emailed to suit your needs? Simply email our team and have your warning amount adjusted.
Remember you can also check your balance via our RESTapi any time and transfer funds between accounts in real-time via the API or Client Portal.
Worldwide IT Outage – lessons for us all?
Very few people in our industry will have got through Friday 19th July without some kind of cold sweat, even if not directly impacted. In fact, it was a wake up call for all of mankind really as to how reliant we have all become on these wonderful devices we have incorporated into our lives so completely. Alison wrote a very thoughtful article for our website on this topic here.
Compliance with the Telecom Security Regulations is one of our highest priorities and we have a few features and tools we are plotting for our clients, so we hope to be able to share some ways to help you in the coming months.
What’s on our minds…
As we enter what is known as ‘holiday season’ our focus is ensuring our team get the opportunity to take a proper break and enjoy some sunshine (if we are lucky!) whilst those remaining aren’t put under too much pressure.
Whilst we are generally pretty good at getting this balance right, we do want to acknowledge everyone who is juggling childcare, attempting to enjoy the summer and doing a wonderful job for us all at the same time.
Meanwhile, today we welcome another new team member – we will introduce Sara next month – and we continue to press ahead with our priority projects, updates to follow!
As always here at Magrathea we appreciate your comments and feedback, if there is anything you would like to contact us about, or you would like to opt out of receiving future newsletters, please email info@magrathea-telecom.co.uk
Kind regards
Client Focus Team, 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.