Publicly Available Telephone Services

Publicly Available Telephone Services or PATS means a service available to the public for originating and receiving national and international calls and access to emergency services through a telephone number

Telephone number

A telephone number or phone number is a sequence of digits used to call from one telephone line to another in a public switched telephone network. When telephone numbers were invented, they were short — as few as one, two or three digits — and were given orally to a switchboard operator...

or numbers in a national or international telephone numbering plan

Telephone numbering plan

A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunications to allocate telephone numbers to subscribers and to route telephone calls in a telephone network. A closed numbering plan, such as found in North America, imposes a fixed total length to numbers...

, and may, where relevant, also include one or more of the following -

(a) the provision of operator assistance
Operator assistance
An operator-assisted call is one in which the calling party places a telephone call which requires an operator to provide some form of assistance in completing the call...

,
(b) directory enquiry facilities,
(c) directories,
(d) the provision of public pay telephones,
(e) the provision of service under special terms,
(f) the provision of specific facilities for end-users with a disability or with special social needs, and
(g) the provision of non-geographic services

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