Posted on: 28th January 2019, by Magrathea
Good morning all!
Welcome to the latest edition of the Magrathea Newsletter, combining news from Magrathea and around the industry.
The ‘old’ account status page
Last year we launched our Client Portal and RestAPI – these tools allow clients to manage their accounts, access information on our services and make simple changes to accounts – including balance checks and funds transfers between accounts.
We have had great feedback on these new tools and so we feel it is time to retire our ‘old’ fund checker page from service.
To this end, please take this as 90 days notice that the www.magrathea-telecom.co.uk/status page will be withdrawn from service.
If you are not already using our RestAPI or Client Portal to check your account balances, please contact us on support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk and we can very quickly arrange for you to have access to these tools.
Emergency Services calls
If you do not already have access to 999/112 via Magrathea, we can offer a fully reliable service that has been extensively tested by the BT Emergency Handling Authority (EHA). Once you are signed up for this service, name and address data can be submitted via our API’s and 999/112 calls passed via your outbound account will be sent through to the EHA.
We are pleased to announce that following the success of special offers we have previously run, we have now permanently discounted the charge for the set-up of this service to £100 plus VAT. If you would like more information on this service, please contact us on support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk or you can call us – 0345 004 0040.
Information, Connection or Signposting services (ICSS)
Ofcom have been tightening up regulations around the use of 084 numbers that are being used for Information, Connection or Signposting services (ICSS), with the intention of preventing ‘bill shock’ for consumers when they have dialled these services.
ICSS services are run on premium rate numbers and provide the caller with the option to be connected onto a business, or provide information or advice about businesses and services.
Regulatory responsibility for numbers connecting to an ICSS will now be placed with the Phone-Paid Services Authority, irrespective of their number range or price.
For more information about the new rulings or for clarification about ICSS services, please see:
Price cap on 118 services
A reminder that in November, Ofcom announced that they would be capping the cost to call 118 numbers. From 1st April 2019, the maximum amount that a caller to a 118 service can be charged is £3.65 including VAT for a 90 second call.
If you are operating a 118 service, we recommend that you check that the Service Charge of your number brings the cost to call it in line with this new cap.
ComReg consultation
ComReg, the Irish telecommunications regulator, have proposed several changes to Irish non-geographic numbering services, these are due to come into effect on 1st December 2019.
Their proposals include changing from five categories of non-geographic numbers to two, and ‘geo-linking’ one of the ranges so that calls to this type of non-geographic number can be included ‘in bundle’.
More information can be found here: https://www.comreg.ie/industry/licensing/numbering/ngn-review/
We will contact our clients who take Irish numbering through us in due course to discuss the impact of this.
ISPA Awards
The 21st ISPA Awards will be held at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane Hotel in London on 11th July 2019
Friday was the deadline for registering your entry for the awards and so now the clock starts ticking! Good luck to all of our clients who have entered and we will hopefully see many of you there on the night.
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