Truphone soon to issue German numbers from +49 1529-range

[inquisitor]

In last week's issue of the German regulatory authoritiy's official journal it was announced that Vodafone Germany has let its so far unused mobile number range starting with +49 1529 to Truphone GmbH and that use will finallly start on February 1st, 2013:

Die Vodafone D2 GmbH hat mitgeteilt, daß ab dem 01.02.2013 mit der Nutzung des Rufnummernblocks (0)1529 innerhalb des Nummernraums für das öffentliche Telefonnetz/ISDN begonnen wird. Die Rufnummern des Nummernblocks werden im Rahmen einer Netznutzungsvereinbarung durch die Truphone GmbH genutzt.

Their German subsidiary in the form of a limited company (GmbH), which resides at law firm Jones Day's address, was already established in May 2011. Shortly after that the first rumours about Truphone joining the German market came up which are materializing only now.

However the fact that the German regulatory authority seeks to decrease interconnection fees for German mobile networks from currently € 0.036/0.039 to € 0.0185 starting from December (subject to consultation procedure and EC approval) will probably prohibit free incoming calls on the German number outside of Germany.

Let's see what their plans are...