Companies wanting to advertise through a free telephone number will find it easier to operate internationally thanks to a new standard from the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
The ITU, a United Nations agency that sets telecommunications standards, has approved a Universal International Freephone Numbering standard that will usher in global free number registration.
Until now, companies have had to make separate arrangements for a free number in each country they sought responses from.
Under the new standard, they will be able to register throughout the world simultaneously, 'greatly freeing up companies' ability across international markets,' according to the ITU.
US telecommunications giant AT&T said some US$100 billion in goods and services was sold each year through freephone services, but the ITU said Europe and the Asia-Pacific region had been slow to take up the service.
The need for an internationally co-ordinated freephone service had been accentuated by the ability to advertise globally through technologies like the Internet.