Ofcom UK to Release New (020) 4 Phone Number Range for London

The UK communications regulator has today announced that it will make 10 million extra phone numbers available to people in London this year via the introduction of a new “(020) 4” range, which should help to keep up with increasing demand (30 million ‘020’ numbers have already been allocated across existing ranges).

According to Ofcom, fewer than a million numbers are left to be allocated under the existing ranges and they expect those to be gobbled up within the space of a year (i.e. they distribute c.30,000 numbers in London each week via the existing (020) 3, 7 and 8 ranges). Much of this demand is being driven by the rapid construction of new homes and office blocks.

The regulator admits that most of these numbers tend not to be used much and indeed the majority are merely needed to support fixed line broadband ISP connections, although UK customers do still spend 44 billion minutes making landline calls every year.

Sadly most landlines today still need a number to work, although the rollout of “full fibre” (FTTP) networks and solutions like SOGEA (standalone ADSL, FTTC, G.fast broadband) will slowly change that as people adopt more IP based networks.

Liz Greenberg, Head of Numbering at Ofcom (fun job), said:

“We’re seeing growing need for 020 numbers, as London expands and new homes and offices are built. These 10 million new numbers will allow us to meet demand and help keep the capital connected.”

Ofcom intends to start accepting applications for “(020) 4” numbers via telecoms operators from 1st October 2019, with the new numbers then being allocated to customers from December 2019. The last time they introduced a new sub-range  – “(020) 3” – was all the way back in 2005.