118: The winners and losers

The opening up of the directory enquiries market - DQ, to those in the know - is likely to be good for most consumers. We doubt it will be such a pleasant experience for most of the companies now chasing those calls.

As of 10 December, seven companies will replace the existing 192 service. Over 20 numbers - beginning 118 and ending in three other digits - have been awarded by regulator Oftel.

Those companies launching along with BT in a bring-on-the-competition, fighting talk frame of mind, will offer listings, location-based services, personal lists of searches at a touch of an agent's button and so on.

This is the part that is good news for those of us wanting a Thai restaurant in central Bristol or the nearest cinema to SW17 playing the latest James Bond film. Letting your fingers do the walking will become just so passé.

BT is obviously set to lose some of its DQ revenues. However, it will hope to expand the market, with healthy margins where it does so.

And herein lies the crux. Players such as Orange are talking about using their brands to lure callers. And those with the memorable codes - note none have got 118 192 - might get business purely on that strength.

But a cheap, perhaps automated connection of a 5p flat fee, say, will be attractive. This is especially the case when compared to the current tariff or the bells and whistle offerings everyone is talking about.

Expect to see the field thin pretty quickly. A DQ specialist, a BT and maybe a brand meister such as Orange might survive but the recent years of telecoms are littered with the corpses of too many players having a punt in a new market.

Many 118 codes are chosen but few will be called.