Free voice shortcodes have been an uneven playing field in the UK for a while now, with all but one of the major mobile operators having offered the service for the last few months. The one exception was T-Mobile – and it too has now joined the party, with the release of its own zero-rated voice shortcodes.

This means that UK brands will now be able to offer consumers truly cross-network free-to-call phone numbers, as an alternative to the premium rates which 0800 numbers charge to mobiles.

Its a move which Will Neale, founder and CEO of Orca Digital, welcomes wholeheartedly. “It is great to finally see T-Mobile join other operators in formally announcing the launch of its freephone voice short codes,” Neale says. “We are already seeing a strong appetite for these from more progressive businesses and we expect many more to follow, as they increasingly understand the extent of consumer frustration with calling expensive 0800 and 0845 numbers from their mobiles.  Not only do these non-geographic numbers cause damage to brands, but they also deter potential customers from getting in touch.”

There is one remaining exception, however, in the form of Virgin Mobile – which many people think of as a full-fat operator but is in fact a MVNO which runs off T-Mobile. Virgin currently offers shortcode tariffs of 25p and 15p, but still does not support zero-rated voice shortcodes.