[UK]
The directory assistance number, 1405, never stops innovating. In addition to communicating a telephone number and the identity of a telephone number holder, the 1405 service now communicates a wide range of information that is useful in everyday life: the programs and schedules of cinemas, theaters, shows and exhibitions; sports and lottery results; the departure and arrival times of trains and flights; letter deposit box addresses and clearance times; weather forecasts, traffic info; the location of hotspots and service stations, not to mention emergency services such as on-duty pharmacies and doctors. In other words, you only have to dial one number for any type of information, whenever you need it: 1405
This new extension of the 1405 service was launched to meet the growing demand for an increasingly mobile public. The number is in fact already used extensively to solve everyday problems: for much more, therefore, than simply to communicate telephone numbers. Hence the idea of systemizing the provision of this information via a "voice portal," which is the telephone version of the Internet portal. The difference is that, with 1405, all you have to do is talk to the operator, who will communicate the search results almost instantly.
Nothing could be simpler: the customer dials 1405 and puts the question to the operator, who communicates the desired information in a few seconds. So it's not necessary to have a portable PC or the latest mobile telephone model. All you need is a simple fixed-line or mobile telephone.
The 520 operators of the 1405 number conduct their searches in the database that is relevant to the type of question. These databases are created and updated daily, thanks to agreements concluded with The Belgian Post, The Belgian Railways, and the IPM group (which groups together the daily newspapers La Dernière Heure and La Libre Belgique, and manages the cinebel.be, agenda.be and dhnet.be websites).
A call from a Belgacom or Telenet line placed to 1405 that involves two searches is billed at EUR 1.12 (excl. VAT) (rate unchanged since July 1999). For calls placed from other networks, there may be an additional charge.
An overview of the main innovations made for 1405 since 1999
* July 1999: Call Link option or direct connection to the person being called;
* January 2000: Sherlock(r), the 1408 automatic identification service, is launched;
* October 2001: Launch of the Talking Yellow Pages(r) (Where can I find an Italian restaurant that takes my credit card near the Grand Place in Brussels?)
* February 2002: emergency duty doctors are made available via 1405;
* March 2002: the 1405 service becomes accessible to ALL the Belgian networks, fixed-line and mobile;
* April 2002: SMS confirmation of the number requested (for mobile telephone customers);
* February 2003: launch of the SMS directory assistance service;
* June 2004: "Only at 1405" option, or the possibility to make your mobile telephone number accessible to Directory Assistance (over 300,000 numbers available in April 2005);
* October 2004: the launch of Lisa (r) at 1234, the fully automated Directory Services
The 1405 national directory assistance service at a glance:
* 40 million calls per year, i.e., 145,000 calls every working day;
* 520 operators working in 10 call centers throughout Belgium (Brussels, Mons, Namur, Liège, Eupen, Charleroi, Roulers, Alost, Anvers and Hasselt);
* Service available 24/7, 365 days per year;
* Average waiting time less than three minutes;
* Service accessible to ALL Belgian telephones (fixed-line and mobile);
* Service in four languages: 1307 (FR), 1207 (NL), 1407 (DE) and 1405 (EN).
