Thus hangs up on 118 business

Thus has pulled out of the 118 directory enquiries (DQ) business. The Scottish telco's decision comes after a survey by regulator Oftel showing a large number of calls to 118 services being handled incorrectly.

CEO Bill Allan said the results led to Thus being "extremely concerned and disappointed". It had outsourced its service to a supplier approved by the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) but ICSTIS has itself found fault with 118 provision.

Since the changeover from 192 to 118, Thus' service only dealt with 25,000 calls per month, with only a third for residential numbers being handled correctly.

Analysts have predicted that a number of providers will drop out over the next six months.

In a research note last month, Butler Group called the switch to six-digit numbers prefixed with 118 - a move intended to engender competition and raise quality - "an unmitigated disaster".