Personal Number

Personal numbering is the name for a virtual telephone number service that is found in a number of countries including the UK and Spain. Typically the national destination code used for this service is (0)70. This service has historically been poorly defined by Oftel and also Ofcom. In 2008, Ofcom has made an in depth study into the service and proposed keeping the service and not migrating it to 060.

The 070 service is based on the principle of a flexible virtual telephone number. Depending on the telecommunications service provider, these numbers are able to be remotely commanded, by Web, SMS or IVR to route calls to most international destinations, including mobiles. They are similar to follow-me numbers, but are able to be controlled remotely and push calls to the desired destination. For example, the UK number +44 70 0585 0070 is routed to an Inmarsat number, so that a subscriber can be reached anywhere on Earth just as if they were still in the United Kingdom. For the telephone numbering plan context of 070 numbers see Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom.

In 1991 AT&T ran a trial which led, in 1992, to the AT&T EasyReach 700 service of follow-me numbers, on area code 700 in the North American Numbering Plan.

After protracted lobbying of Oftel throughout 1992, Stanford White (of Numbering Viewed Worldwide Ltd) and Will Goodall (of Goodall Personal Numbering Ltd, renamed FleXtel in 1994) were each licensed by the DTI (now BERR) in mid-1993, under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984, to provide telecommunications services.

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