A CONTROVERSIAL new directory inquiries service will operate from Hull.

The UK's first mobile phone directory inquiries service, which launches tomorrow, has attracted criticism from privacy campaigners.

They say many people would be alarmed to find their mobile phone details included on a national database without them realising.

Connectivity, the company behind the 118 800 service, says it will be able to connect customers to most of Britain's 42 million mobile phones for a £1 charge.

It is a new business, backed by investors including 3i and DFJEsprit, and has obtained the numbers from a variety of sources such as market research businesses.

Connectivity has employed the KCOM Group to run its call-centre in Carr Lane, city centre.

A spokeswoman for KCOM said it was too early to tell if demand for the service would create any new jobs.

She said: "As this service has not yet been launched we cannot currently say whether it will create any new jobs in our call centre, but if it does, we will advertise those vacancies locally.

"Our role is to connect callers to the mobile number they request but these calls are only put through once the mobile user has given the operator permission to connect the call.

"We do not provide any other aspects of this service."

Raj Raithatha, chief executive of 118 800, said he had spotted a gap in the market.

He said: "I come from a telecommunications background and one of the trends I saw was that more and more people were using mobiles rather than landlines.

"My mobile is now my office and other business people are increasingly the same.

"We are quietly confident that once people get comfortable with the service it will take off."

Responding to concerns about privacy, Connectivity said it had been approved by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) – responsible for regulating and enforcing access to personal data.

An ICO spokesman said: "We made it absolutely clear to Connectivity that they should not use numbers where there was any doubt about whether the consumer was happy for their information to be used in this way."