BT is to scrap the charge for punters looking to hang on to their phone numbers when they move house.

People moving house can opt to retain their phone number, but only if they move to new premises served by their existing telephone exchange.

At the moment, this service costs £35.84. But from 1 February, BT is axing the charge.

However, any orders placed during January will still be charged at the old rate.

The move only applies to domestic users.

A spokesman for BT denied that the move would lead to a significant loss of revenue for BT since it only carried out a "few thousand" of these number transfers a year. ®