Recently, those from ANCOM published on the official website an informative material about surcharge numbers, material from which we find details about value-added services that usually provide information from various fields of activity, entertainment, allow the expression of opinions or access to interactive applications.
As you probably know, calls and SMS / MMS to these numbers are usually charged higher than usual by your mobile service provider. If you call such a number or send an SMS, they will not be consumed from the minutes / SMS included in your subscription . They are charged separately.
There is also a warning here, that sending SMS to a short number can subscribe to some value-added services . In this case, you will be charged for receiving messages that represent the content of the service, for as long as the service is active. ANCOM also tells us that value-added services may be offered differently even by the provider of electronic communications services to which we subscribe, or by third parties through numbers assigned by providers.
Categories of surcharge numbers:
| Categories of numbers with surcharge | Form of numbers with surcharge: | Services available | rates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal short national numbers and short codes for SMS / MMS | 12vx (y), 13vx (y), 14vx (y), 15vx (y), 17vx (y), 18vx (y), 83vx (y), 84vx (y), 88vx, 96vx (y), 97vx (y ), 98vx (y), 99vx (y) | value-added services examples: special mobile phone images and sounds (ringtones), televoting, microplates, horoscopes, contests and games, access to downloadable applications on your mobile phone, customer relations or technical assistance in various fields offered by third parties, charitable services, adult services | are established by the supplier / third party, depending on its commercial policy. in the case of 17vx (y) or 18vx (y) numbers, the tariffs are less than or equal to those in the network. |
| Short national numbers for services of general interest | 19vx or 19vxy, where "v" can have values between 5 and 9 | services of general interest - customer relations, railway transport information, banking consultancy, roadside assistance, etc. | maximum 0.6 euro / minute, excluding VAT. |
| National numbers for subscriber information services | 118 (xyz) | are used to find out the telephone or fax numbers of subscribers to electronic communications services intended for the public, usually by name | are established by the supplier / third party, depending on its commercial policy. |
| Special rate numbers | 09xxxxxxxx | entertainment, games and contests, through the numbers of the form 0900xxxxxx miscellaneous information (general, business, marketing, utilities, etc.), entertainment, games and contests, through the numbers of the form 0903xxxxxx adult entertainment by means of numbers of the form 0906xxxxxx | are established by the supplier / third party according to its commercial policy. |
ANCOM also tells us that on the websites of the telephone operators we will find information about the numbers with surcharge that they use, which they have assigned to third parties as to which they offer access, the applicable tariffs and the way of charging. Also included here are details on how we can obtain information or make complaints about the services provided through these numbers.
On the ANCOM website, in the dedicated material, details about ordering a value-added service and the information that must be communicated to you in the process are also revealed. More information can be found here!