Freephone and premium rate numbers have been launched by Bahrain's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).

As part of its new national numbering plan, consumers will also have the chance to purchase new four and five-digit numbers - starting with 80 or 81.

TRA general director Alan Horne told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News he had every confidence that the new facilities would be immediately taken up by businesses seeking a commercial edge.

'This is already a very developed business in other countries across the world,' he said.

'Taxi firms, pizza delivery companies, call centres and even TV shows can purchase one of these new five-digit freephone numbers which are easy to remember.

'There's also premium charge numbers which can be used for value-added services, installation services and even legal services - basically these things can offer advice and earn money through revenue sharing.'

On a freephone line the recipient of the call covers the dialler's costs, which can act as an added incentive to call, whilst premium charge lines have an additional cost on top of the basic call rate which will be partially transferred to the recipient of the call.

'Basically it gives firms the opportunity to use business in a more creative way,' said  Horne.

'There are a host of business opportunities for companies to take up and become more efficient, effective or competitive and offer new services.

'We're really encouraging operators to market and promote these lines and encourage consumers to take these up.'

Companies in other countries have been accused of using premium charging as a mode of profiteering off the unwary by encouraging callers to ring without fully informing them of the costs involved.

But Horne dismissed suggestions that the introduction of premium rate lines would put consumers at risk.

'It's not a well-developed technology here and as it gets more developed some of these practices which we're aware of in other countries may be brought over here - but we've got to stamp them out,' he said.

'It's incumbent on the operator to inform the consumer of when these charges will occur whether it be via an advert or an announcement during the call itself.

'We're also working on consumer protection guidelines and we have an action plan to work with the industry on the aspect of premium charging to ensure that this issue is tied down.'

The TRA will charge operators BD100 ($265.3) for a five-digit number and BD1,000 for a four-digit number, although exact charges for consumers are yet to be determined.

As part of the plan, which was established after the TRA held a workshop with 25 representatives from telecommunication companies, it has also proposed to standardise service numbers across operators, ensuring those such as customer care (196) and International Operator Assisted Calls (151) are the same throughout Bahrain.

A number of new numbers, which can be used for either fixed or mobile services, will also soon become active and consumers will be able to choose the number they like.

'We will be issuing universal service numbers to Zain and Mena Telecom,' he said.

'These will be a whole new number range of eight-digit numbers beginning with six and seven.

'And what's great about this is when number portability comes in at the end of the year you will be able to keep your number no matter what operator you choose.'-TradeArabia News Service