3 Hotlines Close Private Phone Number Searches
Three biggest information hotlines - 1188, 1182 and 1184 - have shut down their online search engines enabling clients to find private telephone numbers, because the number of complaints over unsolicited sales offers grew fivefold in just a month.
Inquiries regarding private telephone numbers will now be received only by the service providers' telephone hotline operators.
“This is for now the best solution in order to protect people from the flooding calls of sales agents,” said Jon Martinsen, head of Telemeedia Eesti and Ekspress Hotline. He said that even though the service terms and conditions forbid the use of private telephone numbers for commercial purposes, these were not heeded simply too often.
"We believe that the situation will improve significantly, because mass inquiries cannot be made over the telephone and a moderate calling fee should keep sales agents in line," he said.
Ingrid Teesalu