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Phonewords in Australia
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Phonewords are officially introduced into Australia following the release of the appropriate number ranges by the ACMA Australian Communications Authority in August 2004 although they have been widely used in the United States for more than thirty years. The ACMA markets the rights of use to the phonewords (also referred to as smartnumbers) via an online auction which is found at www.smartnumbers.com.au
Some phonewords have sold for as much as AUD $1 million with 13TAXI raising AUD $1,005,000; 1300 TICKETS AUD $300,000; 1300 FLOWERS AUD $152,500; 1800 TICKETS AUD $100,000; 13ROSE $92,500.
The types of numbers that are most commonly used include those beginning with the prefixes '1300', and '1800', which are 10 digits in length, and numbers beginning with '13', which are six digits in length.
The differences between the prefixes are the length of the number (6 or 10 digits), the license cost to use them each year (approximately AUD$1 for 1800 and 1300, AUD$10,000 for 13 numbers) and the call cost model. 1300 and 13 numbers share call costs between the caller and call recipient, whereas the 1800 model offers a national free call to the caller, with total costs of the call borne by the recipient.
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