The Office of Communications (Ofcom), the U.K. telecom industry regulator, announced earlier this week that it is establishing a new area code (056) for VoIP numbers with no specific location. This new batch of phone numbers can be assigned to accommodate the emerging market for cheaper VoIP calls, including, for instance, subscribers running softphones on a laptop and connecting anywhere via a wireless broadband or 3G link.  Moreover, the new VOIP-only area code is more efficient because it frees up the trunks normally utilized in the call forwarding scheme that BT employs to route the calls of defected subscribers. 

Ofcom will allow consumers to either switch from their existing 11-digit telephone number to a new 11-digit broadband number or take a new 11-digit number starting with the more recognizable regional prefixes "01" or "02".  Some customers will have the option of keeping their existing 11-digit number after switching. 

Ofcom also mentioned it would run a public consultation (until the 15th of November) to determine what service guarantees and consumer protection guidelines new SPs must stick to.  Adherence to the traditional "PATS" (Public Available Telephone Services) set of provisions can become an expensive proposition, since a VoIP SP would incur the added cost of having a gateway to the public PSTN network.  Furthermore, requirements such as support for emergency calls and service continuity after a disaster would also need to be met.  Thus, it is not surprising to see organizations such as ISPA (Internet Service Providers' Association) lobbying that VoIP services should not be require to be PATS compliant.