Posted on: 3rd July 2025, by Magrathea
Welcome to the July newsletter, combining news from Magrathea and around the industry.
What’s included
- Government Update: Data (Use and Access) Act 2025
- Comreg Statement: Customer Charter
- Regulation Overview
- IP Migration (PSTN Switch-Off)
- Client Survey – key takeaways
- Service Spotlight: API driven tools
- Service Spotlight: Gold Numbers
- Reminder: Network status page
- Local Caller ID Restrictions – Romania
- Local Caller ID Restrictions – USA
- Business switching
- Events and outings
- What’s on our minds…
Government Update: Data (Use and Access) Act 2025
This bill has now received Royal Assent and is expected to open up the use of data to benefit innovation and boost the economy. The use of data should improve information sharing in a safe way to help consumers and businesses make informed decisions and open up a host of new opportunities. We will be exploring how this will benefit and impact our sector in a future article, but meanwhile if you would like to read more you can find the government factsheets here.
Regulation: ComReg goes ahead with Customer Charter
ComReg clearly feel consumers of Irish telcos are not getting a fair deal when it comes to levels of service, complaints being heard or even consistently compensated when things go wrong. In January 2025 they launched a consultation on the Introduction of a Customer Charter and on the 27th June ComReg published their response and decision. The result is that Relevant Service Providers (RSPs) with a market share of 0.5% or greater will be required to prepare, publish and keep updated a Charter, as specified by ComReg. It has to meet certain criteria and RSPs get around 6 months to implement it. Well until the 5th January 2026 to be exact. ComReg has provided an example of a Charter for RSPs to use and it includes information that is now required for consumers, including amounts of compensation they can expect, how complaints will be handled, as well as information on quality of customer service levels in relation to response times or connecting a new service. There is also a requirement that the Charter must be accessible to all, audited, and regular data reports made to ComReg.
Even for clients who have a market share of less than 0.5%, we think its worth at least understanding the standards and accountability on customer service that ComReg now expect from suppliers to protect the Irish end-user and how larger competitors are being asked to up their game. UK based clients might also find it interesting as a good way to benchmark their own customer service practices. More detailed information can be found here.
Regulation overview
We seem to be in a rare window of not having to read or respond to lengthy consultations! We know it won’t last as more are expected soon but meanwhile our focus continues on two key areas: working with all different types of stakeholder in preventing scams and thwarting bad actors, and increasing our network security and resilience.
Whilst in Dublin recently we took the opportunity to meet one of our main contacts at ComReg in person. We heard how the team there are extremely busy implementing recent initiatives to prevent scams and block ways that bad actors can reach the consumer, particularly using mobile CLIs.
It was also another great reminder that whilst industry in Ireland is waiting for Comreg to publish ‘know your customer’ guidance, in fact all operators whether in the UK or Ireland should already be focused on this anyway as part of existing regulation, ensuring on-boarding and monitoring processes are as robust as possible. We have some useful guidance on due diligence checks here.
IP Migration/PSTN switch off
Despite our concerns that this comes a little late in the process, we are delighted to see that a new campaign targeting Telecare users and their friends and family has been launched. BT and Virgin have led on a new marketing campaign which includes TV adverts, displays in GP surgeries and newspaper articles.
There have also been updates to the website – https://digitalphoneswitchover.com and the Government’s information pages. Although this marketing campaign focusses on Telecare users, we hope of course that it will shore up the message that everyone needs to act to migrate safely.
Alongside this campaign activity, BT’s carrier division has been urging CPs and Telecare Providers to consider the implications of the PSTN switch-off. Specifically, they are encouraging:
- Engaging with your customer base to accelerate the move towards IP-native Telecare devices
- Fully engaging with all other CPs involved to ensure a collaborative approach
- Maintaining visibility of the numbers in use for critical ‘voice band data’ based services, such as legacy Telecare
- Making the most appropriate routing decisions for traffic to these numbers based on the information available
- Monitoring of traffic stats to these numbers to get early insight into any possible issues
Client Survey – key takeaways
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our survey. The comments and feedback were largely positive and have provided us with some useful feedback which will help shape our plans for the year ahead.
The survey was broadly split into questions about wider industry issues and Magrathea specifically. From an industry perspective, with the deadline fast approaching, it is reassuring to see more clients feeling prepared for the PSTN switch off compared to last year. There are however still many questions around Switching so we’ll be focusing on offering clearer guidance. We continue to engage with key industry groups and are staying current with the developing situation for business switching and will be sharing updates as the situation develops.
Turning to Magrathea specific scores and comments, we were delighted to see our support team once again receiving high scores with lots of lovely comments however we still keep striving for more 10s so we remain committed to keeping support a top priority. Communication was also rated well, with many clients finding our newsletters useful. That said, there is room to improve, so for 2026 we have plans in place to enhance our content, update our website and refresh our communication channels – more to follow on that soon.
Awareness of our full range of services continues to be a challenge, although our scores have improved from last year and the expansion of our business development team is making a difference. Further improvements here will go hand-in-hand with our broader communication enhancements.
In terms of client tools, feedback on our MAGIC portal was positive, but there is a clear appetite for more functionality. Migrating features across for our original Client Portal into MAGIC will be a top priority for our development team this year.
If you left your contact details, we’ll be responding to your feedback individually, in most cases have done so already but meanwhile if you have any further comments or suggestions please let us know anytime.
Service Spotlight: API Driven Tools
With many of our clients preferring to use our portals in recent years it is easy to forget that behind every portal there is an API – which can be used instead. Since day one at Magrathea, when we launched our Numbering API – one of the first enabling real time allocating and management of UK numbers – our APIs have expanded to cover areas including submitting 999 data, number porting orders and funds transfers. They are reliable, robust and quietly doing the heavy lifting behind the scenes.
We always aim to mirror functionality between the API and the Portal so you can choose which method suits you best. If you would like to find out more about how our tools can help you, details can be found in the Guide within MAGIC, or email support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk
Service Spotlight: Gold numbers
Gold numbers are available within all our number ranges and continue to be a popular option for many business users. Memorable numbers or attractive repeating digit patterns will enable your customer to maximise their sales opportunities and will provide an excellent return on investment when used in advertising.
One off allocation fee for these numbers start from £100 upwards, please contact us if you would like to discuss a quote for these numbers.
Reminder: Network Status Page
To ensure we can keep clients informed of what is happening at all times, we have a network status page. Please bookmark this page http://magratheastatus.com/ and you will always be able to keep up to date in the event of any issues.
Local Caller ID Restrictions – Romania
Romania is the latest country to restrict internationally originated calls presenting a local CLI, this restriction will come in effect on the 7th July.
These calls will usually be blocked, rejected or fail, or in some cases have a replacement “network number” added and the call passed as anonymous. Please contact our support team with any questions.
Local Caller ID Restrictions – USA
As we all know the regulation in the USA is getting much tighter around calls that are placed to USA numbers from outside the USA when using a USA Caller ID. Whilst it is still possible to place these calls unsurprisingly there is significant due diligence expectations on all the parties in the call path.
To minimise disruption, any client who has placed USA to USA calls in the last year has already been contacted, however for clients who have any new requirement to place USA to USA calls, please contact us immediately at support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk so we can ensure calls work as expected. For more information you can view our guide on how you need to comply with these measures in The Guide, here.
Business Switching
Industry groups continue to work on business switching and TOTSCO have announced they will commence testing this week for anyone wishing to utilise their services.
Meanwhile, other stakeholders continue to work on alternative solutions. Unlike residential switching, there is no mandate to use TOTSCO for business switching as long as your process is ‘gaining provider led’.
We will be sharing more thoughts on compliance in future newsletters as we feel it’s important for all providers in the supply chain to understand their options and decide which solutions work best for their business.
Events and Outings
We’ve had a really busy and productive month with events, visits and outings.
On the 18th June we went across to the ComReg Conference at Croke Park, Dublin. We have been operating in Ireland over 15 years and whilst we have regular contact with the Irish regulator, this was the first opportunity to attend an event in person. It was really insightful and given the recent events with the Odido outage, the discussions were even more pertinent. You can read our key takeaways here.
Whilst in Dublin we took the opportunity to meet clients and industry friends for a casual dinner. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it, we get to work with some great people in this industry and it was a joy to get to spend some time with a few of them.
On the 26th June we attended the CCUK Summer Forum and AGM – kindly sponsored by Simwood and hosted by 8×8. This year we had two members of staff involved in panels, sharing experience on two key issues facing us all in the industry at the moment.
First, Laura sat on the panel about how we can combat fraud and scams. It was a lively and interactive discussion highlighting that one of the best ways to stay ahead of scammers is for all of us to work together, sharing intel and best practices. Whilst we all have internal processes which work to our own business models, however this discussion demonstrated that by working together we can be even stronger.
Secondly, how do we attract and retain talent? Ralph was able to share his experiences of moving into the telco world later in his career, highlighting how apprenticeships are a key route in. Apprenticeships are no longer just for school leavers and are a good way of attracting great people in to our industry who already have experience and life skills. Click here for more info on ITP apprenticeships.
July is a quieter month for networking events but will still be packed full of industry engagement and client meetings – if you would like a call or meeting to discuss your account just let us know.
What’s on our minds….
This month marks the start of our new business year. This is always an exciting time as we get to reflect on what we have achieved in the last 12 months, as well as finishing off the detailed plans for all that we want to achieve in 2026 and beyond. This year we have managed to spend a few crucial hours off–site with our team leads getting their input on our priorities and challenges. Of course, Dash was there to keep us on track and we’re awaiting his report on the day…
Over the coming days, we’ll be involving everyone across the business in our planning – because no matter the role its essential that we all understand our shared direction and priorities, so we all pull together with purpose. It’s going to be another exciting and busy year!
Outside of work, the MagSteppers are taking on the marathon distance this month in the Thames Path Mighty Hike – a Macmillan Cancer Support fundraiser. Last year some of the team nailed the half marathon hike, so as usual here we like to challenge ourselves even more. If you’d like to donate to this fantastic charity which sadly is increasingly needed, then you can find the page here.
As always here at Magrathea we appreciate your comments and feedback, if there is anything you would like to contact us about, please email info@magrathea-telecom.co.uk
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.