LONDON
, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Nearly 40 percent of Britons dialing to obtain telephone directory service are given wrong numbers, Sky News reported Tuesday.
Since being deregulated in August
, when the old British Telephone held the monopoly
, numerous companies have sprung up
, many of them operating out of Asia with operators who can't understand English
, reports have said.
Users dial 118
, followed by one of the services' own three digit numbers.
The worst offender was 118-355
, run by communications firm Thus, which got right only one in three residential numbers requested.
The number 118-119
, run by 192.com
, only got it right for 43 percent of customers wanting a British home number, according to the survey by Oftel.
BT's new 118-500 number was accurate for 62 percent of residential numbers and 71 percent of business numbers.