Directory Assistance - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, directory assistance is called directory enquiries. The service is provided by a variety of different companies, reached by dialling 118 plus another three digit number. These companies supply information from the Operator Services Information System (OSIS), which is run by Directory Solutions, a division of BT Wholesale. OSIS accepts updates from telecoms providers seven days a week, and supplies that information to the enquiry companies six days a week. There are currently over 200 providers. Three of these, 118 500 (BT), 118 888 (Conduit) and 118 118 (The Number), have over 90% of the market, mostly due to heavy advertising.

Directory enquiries used to be reached by dialling 192 (domestic numbers) or 153 (foreign), with the service supplied by the telephone company providing the fixed or mobile service to the calling telephone. These numbers were switched off on 24 August 2003 following the introduction of competition to directory enquiries.

A number offering a directory enquiries service allowing people to request to be put through to a mobile phone number was established in June 2009. 118 800 proved to be controversial, however, when it was revealed that it was making available 15 million mobile numbers that it had bought from market researchers. Its website has been temporarily suspended to deal with technical issues and improve the service. The site was suspended within weeks of its launch so that the company could rengineer the site to enable the large number of ex-directory requests to be handled more efficiently. Viral emails regarding 118800 are generally thought to be responsible for the deluge of unsubscribe requests. The virals spread panic by alleging that the 118800 service was about to give out phone numbers which would be available to marketers. The 118800 service have maintained that these emails are without substance referring enquirers to their website where the service is explained. 118800 do not, at any time, release telephone numbers to callers but rather send a message to the mobile phone owner letting them know that the enquirer wishes to be connected to them. The recipient of the call retains the right to accept or refuse the call but either way the caller is never notified of the mobile phone number being contacted.