BT has today announced that its BT Mobile customers will be offered free calls to 0800 numbers as of May 1st 2009.
0800 numbers - dubbed "freephone" - are free to call for landline users but have traditionally be chargeable by mobile operators. Today, operators such as Orange, O2 and Vodafone are known to charge customers up to 25p a minute for calling numbers that are designated as freephone by the companies that use them.
BT Mobile's decision to scrap such charges for its own mobile customers comes hot on the heels of the BT's plans to offer landline customers free calls to 0870 and 0845 numbers.
Commenting on BT's announcement, Audrey Gallagher of Consumer Focus said:
"Scrapping unfair charges on 0800 calls from mobile phones is good news for BT customers. With so many consumers using mobile phones rather than landlines to contact essential services, find information and seek help, it is more important than ever that they do so for free across all 0800 numbers. Consumer Focus calls on mobile phone operators to follow BT and stop making money out of 0800 calls."
Whether or not other mobile operators will follow suit remains to be seen, but this is a positive step in the right direction.
