Privacy Policy
- Who we are
- What data we collect
- Your family members' numbers
- Why we use it & our legal bases
- Call records & what we don't do
- Who we share data with
- International transfers
- How long we keep it
- Your rights
- Marketing & service messages
- Cookies
- Security
- Children
- Changes to this policy
- Contact us & complaints
1.Who we are
OctConnect is a diaspora calling service operated by Fine Content Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16603901, registered office 49 Noakes Avenue, Chelmsford, United Kingdom, CM2 8EN. For the personal data described in this policy, Fine Content Ltd is the data controller.
This policy explains how we handle personal data when you use the OctConnect website (octconnect.co.uk) and calling service (together, the "Service"). It should be read alongside our Terms of Service. We comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, contact us at privacy@octconnect.co.uk (or support@octconnect.co.uk).
2.What data we collect
| Category | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Account data | Your name, email address, mobile number, the plan you're on, and login/verification records (one-time codes sent by SMS/email and when they were used). |
| Contacts' numbers | The mobile numbers (and names you give them) of the family members or friends in Zimbabwe — or elsewhere — that you set up to call through the Service. See section 3. |
| Payment data | We use Stripe to process payments. Stripe holds your card details; we hold a Stripe customer reference, your subscription details, and a record of charges, refunds and invoices. |
| Call records (metadata) | For each call connected through the Service: the assigned numbers involved, the calling and called numbers, the date, time, duration and outcome (answered/unanswered etc.), and the minutes used. See section 5 — this is metadata only; we do not record what is said. |
| Usage & technical data | IP address, device/browser information, pages visited, and server logs — used to run, secure and troubleshoot the Service and to detect fraud and abuse. |
| Communications | The emails and SMS messages we send you about your account (confirmations, payment notices, minute-balance alerts, etc.), and any messages you send us (e.g. support emails). |
| Demo / enquiry data | If you try our demo or contact us before signing up: your name, email, the phone numbers you entered for the demo, whether you opted in to marketing, and the outcome of the demo call. |
| Lead data | If you start signing up but don't complete it (an abandoned checkout), or your payment succeeds but we can't finish setting up your account, we keep the contact details you provided so we can follow up and help. |
You don't have to provide this data, but we need most of it to provide the Service — without it, we can't set up your numbers or process your subscription.
3.Your family members' numbers
When you set up a Contact, you give us that person's mobile number so we can route calls to and from them. You are responsible for having a proper basis to share their number with us (for most people, that's simply having their permission), and for letting them know that calls between you go through OctConnect. If a Contact asks not to be contacted through the Service, you must remove them. Contacts have the same data-protection rights described in section 9; if a Contact contacts us directly, we will help them (and, where appropriate, ask you to confirm or update their details).
4.Why we use it & our legal bases
| What we do | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Create and manage your account; assign and configure your numbers; connect calls; track minute usage; provide your dashboard. | Performance of our contract with you (our Terms of Service). |
| Take payments, manage your subscription, issue refunds, and keep billing records. | Performance of our contract, and legal obligation (keeping financial records). |
| Send you service messages (confirmations, payment-failure notices, minute-balance alerts, changes to our terms). | Performance of our contract — these are part of providing the Service. |
| Detect, investigate and prevent fraud, abuse, security incidents and misuse of the Service (including the acceptable-use rules in our Terms). | Legitimate interests — protecting our Service, our customers, our carriers and the public; legal obligation where we must act. |
| Run, maintain, monitor, secure and improve the Service and our infrastructure. | Legitimate interests — operating a reliable, secure service. |
| Follow up on abandoned sign-ups and incomplete set-ups to offer help; respond to demo and pre-sales enquiries. | Legitimate interests — helping people who showed interest complete their sign-up. You can ask us to stop at any time. |
| Send marketing about OctConnect (only if you have opted in). | Consent — which you can withdraw at any time. |
| Comply with the law and respond to lawful requests from regulators, courts or law-enforcement bodies (including telecoms regulatory obligations). | Legal obligation. |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed our interests against your rights and freedoms; you can ask us for more detail about that assessment.
5.Call records & what we don't do
- We keep call records (metadata) — the numbers involved, times, durations and outcomes — because we need them to connect calls, meter your minutes, support you, prevent fraud and meet our legal and regulatory obligations.
- We do not record or listen to the content of your calls. We don't transcribe them, and we don't analyse what is said.
- We don't sell your data, your Contacts' data, or your call records to anyone, and we don't use them for advertising profiling.
6.Who we share data with
We share personal data only with parties that help us run the Service, and only as much as they need:
- Telecommunications carriers and numbering providers — to assign your numbers and carry your calls (calls necessarily pass through carriers and mobile/fixed networks in the UK, Zimbabwe and elsewhere).
- Stripe — our payment processor; it handles your card details and processes charges and refunds. See Stripe's privacy policy.
- Email and SMS providers — to deliver the service messages and verification codes we send you.
- Hosting and infrastructure providers — who host our servers and databases under contract.
- Professional advisers — lawyers, accountants and auditors, where reasonably necessary and under a duty of confidentiality.
- Authorities and third parties — where we are required to disclose by law, regulation, court order or to protect rights, property or safety.
- A buyer or successor — if we sell or reorganise our business, in which case your data may transfer with it (you'll be told if this happens).
All our service providers are bound by contracts requiring them to protect personal data and use it only for the purposes we specify.
7.International transfers
By its nature, a service that connects callers in the UK with people in Zimbabwe involves processing data outside the UK — for example, Zimbabwean carriers necessarily handle calls to your Contacts. Some of our other providers (such as Stripe) also process data outside the UK, including in the United States. Where we transfer personal data outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised under UK data protection law — such as the UK's adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses — or another lawful transfer mechanism. You can ask us for details of the safeguards in place.
8.How long we keep it
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Account data & Contacts' numbers | For as long as your account is active, then deleted or anonymised within a reasonable period after closure (typically within 6 months), except where we must keep some of it longer (see below). |
| Billing & payment records, invoices | At least 6 years, to meet UK tax and accounting requirements. |
| Call records (metadata) | Kept for billing, support and fraud-prevention purposes for a limited period (typically up to 12 months), and longer only where we are legally required to or where needed to resolve a dispute or investigation. |
| Server logs & technical data | Typically up to 12 months, then deleted or anonymised. |
| Lead data (abandoned sign-ups, incomplete set-ups) | Up to 12 months from the date you showed interest, or until you ask us to delete it — whichever is sooner. |
| Demo / enquiry data | Up to 12 months, or until you ask us to delete it. |
| Marketing consent records | For as long as you are subscribed, plus a short period after you unsubscribe to evidence that you opted out. |
| Support correspondence | Typically up to 2 years after the matter is resolved. |
When we no longer need personal data, we delete it or irreversibly anonymise it.
9.Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
- Rectify data that is inaccurate or incomplete;
- Erase your data ("right to be forgotten") in certain circumstances;
- Restrict our processing of your data in certain circumstances;
- Object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time;
- Data portability — receive certain data in a portable format;
- Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent (this doesn't affect processing already carried out);
- Not be subject to solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects — we don't make such decisions about you.
To exercise any of these, email privacy@octconnect.co.uk. We may need to verify your identity. We'll respond within one month (we can extend by two further months for complex requests, and we'll tell you if so). There's normally no charge, though we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse a request that is manifestly unfounded or excessive. Some data may be exempt — for example, where we must keep billing records by law.
10.Marketing & service messages
We only send you marketing emails or texts if you have opted in. Every marketing message includes an easy way to opt out, and you can also email privacy@octconnect.co.uk at any time.
Service messages are different — things like sign-up confirmations, payment-failure notices, minute-balance alerts and notices about changes to our terms. These are part of providing the Service and you cannot opt out of them while you have an active account; if you don't want to receive them, you would need to close your account.
11.Cookies
Our website uses a small number of strictly necessary cookies — for example, to keep you logged in and to protect forms against cross-site request forgery. These are essential for the site to work and don't require consent.
We also collect basic, anonymous usage statistics — which pages are viewed, and an approximate count of visitors each day. This is done with a first-party request from our own site (no cookies, no third parties, no advertising trackers). The visitor count is derived from a short, one-way daily hash of your IP address and browser type that rotates every day and cannot be used to identify you or track you across other websites or over time. We use it only to understand which parts of the site are useful.
We do not use third-party advertising cookies or cross-site tracking. If we ever add anything that does require cookie consent, we will ask you first and update this policy.
12.Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data — including encrypted connections (HTTPS), restricted access on a need-to-know basis, hardened servers and firewalls, and not storing card details ourselves (Stripe does that). No system is ever completely secure, but if a personal data breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the Information Commissioner's Office within 72 hours where required, and tell you without undue delay where the law requires it.
13.Children
OctConnect is not intended for, and is not knowingly offered to, anyone under 18. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
14.Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time — for example, to reflect changes in the Service, our providers, or the law. We'll post the updated version here with a new "last updated" date, and where the changes are significant we'll let you know by email. Please check back occasionally.
15.Contact us & complaints
For any privacy question or request: privacy@octconnect.co.uk (or support@octconnect.co.uk, or call 0330 027 2159), or write to: Fine Content Ltd, 49 Noakes Avenue, Chelmsford, United Kingdom, CM2 8EN.
If you're not happy with how we've handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the UK's data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) — ico.org.uk, helpline 0303 123 1113.
OctConnect is a service of Fine Content Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 16603901, registered office 49 Noakes Avenue, Chelmsford, United Kingdom, CM2 8EN.