BT has always had ‘golden’ numbers , ( easily remembered phone numbers ) for example a taxi firm would be happy to pay ( for example) 01*** 222222 or 01*** 555555 , how these were originally were marketed to those interested in these type of numbers and the price they paid for them is unknown, in BT’s case these numbers will probably have been allocated decades ago .
BT were responsible for the linked number scheme , but with the liberalisation of the industry Ofcom took control of the allocation of number ranges to CP’s, if Ofcom saw a way to monetise the allocation of these numbers it’s a bit late , the best ones are gone and not likely to be given up by those that have them .
As far as domestic individuals wanting to reclaim a number from decades ago , it’s not likely to be worth providing the service for the small numbers that would want this , after all most numbers are ported between providers without issue , and it’s not allowed to move numbers outside of it’s original exchange area .
Newer network providers like Sky , Talk Talk , Vodafone etc., will hand out their golden numbers is upto them , number ranges are in blocks of 10,000 numbers ( in my examples the ranges would be 01*** 220000- to 01***229999, and 01*** 550000 to 01***559999 , so if for example Sky ‘owned’ 01*** 330000 to 01***339999 they obviously would have golden numbers in that range , if they ‘sell’ them to the highest bidder that’s up-to them , provided Ofcom allow that .
