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As we noted last time, on next April 3rd the “12” service for telephone
directory enquiries will finally disappear after 65 years of operation.
This is the result of EU-imposed deregulation. As we write, there are a
couple of dozen and more services competing (or about to compete) in
this lucrative market. Maybe that’s too many. At the end of October
France Telecom was handling 60,000 enquiries a week in the
Alpes-Maritimes and the Var. There are, surely, a limited number of
ways that market could be lucratively divided up.
Until April
3rd you can still use “12” but it could be a good idea to get used to
the new six-digit numbers, all of which start with “118”. But which
number to go for? Well, if you’re a flagwaver and British you might
fancy UK-owned le numéro; if you’re German the blood-tie is with
Tailgate.
We’ve done some testing ourselves and looked as several consumer
surveys. As happened in the UK, some of the new services are slow and
inaccurate. For the time being, at least, we’re opting for France
Telecom’s flesh-and-blood service on “118 711” which is friendly, fast
and accurate (they’ve got the experience embodied in their trained
staff). Cost: 90¢. France Telecom also operates a voice-recognition
service at “118 710”. This is cheaper – at 56¢ – but on some accounts
can offer a richly comic degree of incompetence.
The as-of-now
full range of new numbers can be found on our website. Some of the new
providers are offering (or planning to offer) all sorts of bells and
whistles like cinema programme times and restaurant bookings. Fine,
fine ... but all I’m really concerned with is getting the guaranteed
correct number of Cippolino’s garage in Saint-Benoît-les Crétins.
From Reporter 113 - Feb/Mar 2006
The number 12 for dialling directory enquiries officially became history
this month when it was replaced by a range of six-digit numbers, all
starting with 118, for services run by different operators.
In fact, 12 will
only finally fall silent in April next year but it's a good idea to get used
to the new system now.
An upside of this change is that with competition charges should fall - but,
judging by the UK experience, not all services will offer the same level of
efficiency.
From Reporter 112 - Dec 2005
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Doing It in France 
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