The French market for Directory Assistance starts to
be liberalised in different steps.

Directory Assistance via Phone:
Following a 1997 directive from
ECTRA (European Committee for Telecommunications Regulatory Affairs) requesting from all EU countries to open their market,
Scoot is the first company in 2001 to launch alternative
"Renseignements Telephoniques" under the number 3200.

In 2002 a law suit is filed against France Telecom to abandon
their popular number 12
which results in the 2005 repacement
by a new 118 xxx number operated by multible companies.

118 was choosen in an effort of standardisation,
as Germany and other European countries
were already using 118 for directory assistance
(not 411 like Canada or the US).

July 6 2005 ARCEP (ex Art Autorite de Regularisation des Telecommunications) attributes different 118 numbers.
Each of the 27 candidats for directory assistance
can chose his favorite number which is allocated by chance.

The most easy to remember 118 118 is retained
in order not to privilege one single operator.
France Telecom selects 118 712,
because 712 was laready used from mobile phones.
The representative from another major phone company
makes a mistake and by error he choses the wrong number,
.... which cost him his job a day later.

The new Renseignements Telephoniques start operating
november 2 2005.