Universal Personal Telecommunications

Universal personal telecommunications (UPT) is a special segment of the international telephone number space which has been set aside for universal personal telephone numbers. This service has been allocated country code +878. UPT numbers differ significantly from Personal Numbers which are embedded as an Area Code within the national Telephone numbering plan. For example Area Code 070 within the UK plan.Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) introduced this concept in 2001, referring to it as "global number portability". However, number portability normally refers to the service of keeping an existing phone number after moving service to another provider.

The UPT service

A UPT phone number is intended to be an internationally consistent number which an individual can acquire, which can then be used for contacting them via telephone or other services. A UPT provider basically must have the ability to receive connections from the international telephone network, and then forward the called number to the individual's real number. This would have a similar effect to toll free numbers in not having a geographic connection to particular ranges of numbers, yet a UPT call would still incur a charge.

By year 2007 only one body, VISIONng (an international association), has been allocated a range within the +878 country code. The delegation of +87810 was requested by VISIONng chairman Herwart...
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