When did the 0845 prefix to phone numbers first come into use?
1996 Revenue sharing When calling 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871 numbers, part of the cost of the call is paid to the recipient; this is known as “revenue sharing”. When originally introduced in 1996, calls to 0845 and 0870 number from BT lines were charged at the same rate as local and national calls respectively. Since that time the telecommunications market in the UK has changed substantially, with BT facing competition from new entrants into the market such as the Post Office and Talk Talk and increasing usage of mobile phones. As a result of this, and the introduction of monthly price plans which include calls to national numbers but not 0845, 0870 or other non-geographic numbers, it is sometimes considerably more expensive to call a non-geographic number than standard national 01 or 02 numbers.
