Digital Select Ltd
Planning a UK premium rate phone or SMS service? Learn what to check about Ofcom registration, pricing, customer support and choosing a provider.
Ofcom is responsible for regulating premium rate services, following the transfer from the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) in February 2025. If you run a service paid for through a customer’s phone bill or mobile credit, the practical question is whether your activity falls within the rules and what you need to arrange before launch.
Read Ofcom’s overviewPhone-paid services can include premium-rate telephone lines, paid text services, competitions, voting and other purchases charged to a phone account. The rules depend on the service and your role in delivering it. A business choosing a number should explain the full customer journey to its provider, including how people join, what they receive and how they are charged.
Providers carrying out regulated activity generally need to register with Ofcom at least five working days before that activity starts, unless an exemption applies. Do not assume that your network provider’s registration automatically covers your business. Check which responsibilities belong to you and which belong to any intermediary.
Check Ofcom’s registration guidanceFor a paid information line, put the price where customers see the number and understand the offer. Explain whether a charge is per minute, per call or recurring. Where a network access charge also applies, make that clear. Review the website, adverts and recorded messages together so customers do not encounter different descriptions of the same service.
Think about the person who sees an unfamiliar charge on their bill. They should be able to identify your service and find a practical way to ask for help. Decide who handles billing queries, how disputes are recorded and when a refund may be appropriate. For a subscription service, make the cancellation route easy to find and test it before launch.
Before committing to a number or short code, ask who manages registration checks, pricing setup, customer support and changes to the service. Discuss how you will detect unexpected traffic or complaints and who can pause the service if something goes wrong. Keep a written record of what each party is responsible for.
Review Ofcom’s provider guidanceA paid information or entertainment service has different needs from an ordinary sales enquiry line. If customers simply need to contact your business, consider a local 01/02 number, a national 03 number or an 0800 number instead. Start with the purpose of the call and the customer experience you want, then choose the number and charging model.
Compare telephone number typesTell us what the service will offer, who will use it, how you intend to charge and whether you need a telephone number or an SMS short code. We can discuss the technical options and identify the operational questions to resolve before launch. Check the current Ofcom requirements for your particular service alongside that planning.
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