Ofcom bans rollover landline contracts

Date: 13/09/2011

Those looking to purchase new local telephone numbers may welcome the latest announcement from Ofcom regarding certain contracts.

The regulatory body has elected to ban rollover deals. These mean that, unless they opt out, landline and broadband customers are tied into repeated minimum contract periods.

Several major telecoms firms currently provide these services - known as Automatically Renewable Contracts (Arcs) - to their consumers, including BT, TalkTalk Business, Axis Telecomm and Optimum Calls.

Chief executive at Ofcom Ed Richards said: "Ofcom's evidence shows that Arcs raise barriers to effective competition by locking customers into long term deals with little additional benefit."

The changes will come into effect on December 31st 2011, which the body claimed will give providers an adequate amount of time to remove the contracts.

Earlier this month, the organisation revealed it is trialling a new system in which people in certain areas of the country will have to use the area code as well as the rest of the telephone number when making local calls.