This Explanatory Statement describes Oftel's proposals for modifications to the Telecommunications Act licences held by most Public Telecommunications Operators, Broadband Cable/LDO Public Telecommunications Operators, International Simple Resale, Personal Numbering, Broadcasting and Satellite Service Operators. The modifications would introduce new provisions requiring the Licensees to provide number portability to other operators on a reciprocal basis. The modifications also set out rules on the allocation of costs and charges associated with portability and provide for Oftel to resolve disputes about the terms and conditions on which portability is provided by one operator to another.
The Statement also describes Oftel's proposals for separate modifications to BT's existing licence condition on number portability, in order to provide more detailed provisions on portability of specially tariffed service numbers.
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Current arrangements
Chapter 3 Need for licence modifications
Chapter 4 Licences covered by the modifications
Chapter 5 The new licence condition
Chapter 6 Exercise of power of determination
Chapter 7 BT's Licence
Chapter 8 The Functional Specification
Chapter 9 Future development and regulation of portability
Chapter 10 Summary of proposals
Annex A Proposed licence condition on number portability (all Licensees except BT)
Annex B List of licences in which new condition is to be inserted
Annex C Modifications to BT's licence condition 34.C on number portability
Annex D BT's current licence condition 34.C
Annex E Revised Functional Specification
Oftel intends to give statutory notice of the proposed licence modifications on 18 April 1997. An initial period of consultation will run for 28 days from that date, closing on 16 May 1997.
In a second stage of consultation, interested parties are invited to send comments to Oftel no later than 25 May 1997 on the representations and objections received in the first stage.
Oftel will consider any comments received during that period and will then seek Licensees' formal consent to the proposed modifications.
Written comments on any of the issues covered in this Statement should be submitted by 16 May 1997 to:
Adam Jackson, Consultation on Number Portability, Oftel, 50 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7JJ
Written comments will be made publicly available in Oftel's Library except where respondents indicate that their response or parts of it are confidential. Respondents are therefore asked to separate out any confidential material into a confidential annex which is clearly marked as such. In the interests of transparency, respondents are requested to avoid confidentiality markings wherever possible.
Comments on this document can also be sent to Oftel on the Internet (if they are relatively short) by filling in the form or by using the following e-mail address:
press.office.oftel@gtnet.gov.uk
Oftel intends to set up a link between this document on Oftel's pages and any responses placed on respondents' own Internet pages. Please contact Cate MacPherson at Oftel on 0171 634 8752 to organise this. Confidential responses should not be sent via the Internet.
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1.1 Number portability is a facility provided by one operator to another which enables customers to keep their telephone numbers when switching their business between those operators. Oftel is committed to the introduction of number portability for all types of services. Changing number can be a major inconvenience for customers and a barrier which prevents them from exercising choice and taking advantage of growing competition in the telecommunication market. Number portability means that customers can change to a new operator without the hassle of having to change their number.
1.2 Number portability is a key issue in the development of network competition. There is clear evidence that customers are reluctant to consider changing network operators if this means that they have to change their phone number. Absence of number portability therefore gives the incumbent network operator a significant competitive advantage. Portability between operators promotes full competition in the market. A cost benefit analysis conducted by NERA on behalf of Oftel in 1993 calculated the net benefit to the UK economy of introducing geographic number portability at £1.4 billion over ten years. As well as substantial direct benefits (eg customers do not have to incur costs of changing stationery; fewer wrong numbers are dialled), portability provides very significant indirect benefits, assisting greatly in the creation of genuine competition for all categories of customers, driving down prices, encouraging innovation and raising quality.
1.3 In order to ensure the effective implementation of number portability across the UK, Oftel is seeking to insert new obligations in all relevant operators' licences. This Statement explains the background to this proposal and provides a detailed commentary on the proposed licence modifications. The licence modifications will affect all those who provide telecommunication services by reference to numbers over fixed networks. Oftel is proposing modifications to BT's licence, as well as those of other operators. At the same time, and in order to cater for the introduction of portability of specially-tariffed numbers (such as freephone and local rate), Oftel is proposing a revised Functional Specification, which sets out detailed rules on implementation of number portability. These proposals, taken together, should ensure that portability becomes available for all consumers in the UK. Oftel considers that this represents an important stage in a gradual move towards portability becoming a part of the standard service offered by all Licensees to all customers.
1.4 Portability of 'geographic' numbers (ordinary telephone numbers of subscribers located in a specific geographic area of an operator's fixed network) is currently being offered by a growing number of operators in different areas of the UK. Operators began offering this service in autumn 1996, following the recommendations of an Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) report and a modification to BT's licence and in accordance with the Functional Specification (which sets out detailed rules related to the provision of portability). Initially this was offered by a few operators in limited areas, but it is gradually being extended to more operators and more areas. At present portability is only available for customers moving from BT to another operator. Later this year BT is expected to begin offering number portability to customers moving to them from other operators.
1.5 In order to ensure that all customers can benefit from number portability, Oftel wishes to see it extended to ensure that any operator can request portability from any other operator on a 'like for like' basis. This will extend the direct benefits to customers and to callers, as well as the beneficial competitive effects associated with number portability. Oftel considers that this can only be guaranteed if all operators' licences are modified. Oftel is therefore proposing a new licence condition on number portability, to apply to anyone who has an individual licence to provide telecommunication services by reference to numbers over fixed networks. Later this year, as part of a separate exercise, Oftel will be proposing similar licence modifications for operators providing mobile services.
1.6 In drafting the licence modifications, Oftel has taken full account of the 1995 MMC report on number portability. The modifications are based on the licence condition which the MMC proposed for BT and they apply the MMC's principles on cost allocation.
1.7 Oftel would expect existing Licensees to begin making any necessary arrangements to ensure that they can provide portability as soon as possible.
1.8 Oftel considers that an obligation to provide number portability should be a pre-condition for receiving allocations of numbers from Oftel. The proposed licence condition will be included in any new licences issued which provide a right to obtain number allocations.
1.9 The proposed licence modifications anticipate the extension of portability to some 'specially tariffed services' this summer (freephone (eg 0800), local rate (eg 0345) and national rate (eg 0990)) - to be followed by premium rate services later this year. This follows on from work conducted by an industry group, which examined the technical feasibility of such portability and agreed a common technical approach for implementation. The introduction of portability for specially tariffed services also requires some revision of the rules on portability set out in the Functional Specification. The licence modifications and revised Functional Specification will provide the regulatory framework for ensuring that this is introduced efficiently and fairly.
1.10 In view of the forthcoming introduction of number portability for specially tariffed services, Oftel is also proposing some modifications to BT's licence. These are designed to provide more detailed provisions relating to this type of portability. They would also delete some existing provisions which are redundant now that BT has been directed to provide portability and an initial determination of BT's costs and charges has been produced. The proposed modifications retain the existing provisions for the Director General to make an annual determination of BT's portability costs and charges. In May Oftel will be publishing a consultative document on new network charge controls which will include proposals on future controls of BT's portability charges.
1.11 Oftel is committed to the extension of number portability to all services and it is anticipated that, in due course, portability will become available for personal numbers. Whilst the proposed licence modifications provide a framework for this, any extension of portability would require further revisions to the Functional Specification.
1.12 This policy reflects the views of users and operators. In August 1996, Oftel published a consultative document, Numbering: Options for the Future .2, which sought views on a number of issues related to the National Numbering Scheme, including proposals to extend portability to various types of services. Responses demonstrated widespread support from user groups and business for the extension of number portability to all services. In January 1997, Oftel published a Statement, The National Numbering Scheme, which provided details of the outcome of the consultation exercise and indicated that Oftel would take action to widen the availability of number portability.
1.13 The consultation exercise demonstrated that network operators and independent service providers are also in favour of extending number portability. In December 1996 and January 1997 Oftel informally consulted existing Licensees on the proposed licence modifications and the revised Functional Specification. Their responses were favourable to the general principles underlying the proposed modification. This Statement and the proposed modifications take account of their detailed comments.
1.14 The proposals also anticipate European Community legislation. The proposed Interconnection Directive, which is in the final stages of adoption, will require the introduction of geographic number portability in major centres of population by 2003. A recent Green Paper on Numbering, Commission Green Paper on a Numbering Policy for Telecommunications Services in Europe, presented by the European Commission proposes bringing forward this deadline to 2000. Oftel is proposing licence modifications which will provide an evolutionary path towards meeting any EU requirements.
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2.1 At present operators have a variety of licence obligations with regard to number portability. A new number portability condition was inserted in BT's licence in July 1996 but most other Licensees either have older, more limited provisions based on BT's previous condition or, in some cases, no provisions at all.
2.2 BT has the most detailed provisions on portability, which arise from the recommendations of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC). In August 1994 the Director General directed BT to provide portability of geographic numbers to Videotron Corporation Ltd, a cable company, but no agreement could be reached on financial terms. The Director General then proposed modifications of BT's licence which would require BT to bear most of its own costs and, in the event of disagreements with other operators, allow the Director General to settle the terms. These modifications were unacceptable to BT and the Director General referred the matter to the MMC. The MMC report of November 1995 concluded that the introduction of portability was necessary to promote effective competition between operators, which would benefit customers and promote efficiency. The MMC considered that BT should not be able to recover its costs in full from other operators, and that portability needed to be introduced more rapidly and effectively than was likely if BT's licence remained unchanged; without such a licence modification there would be further protracted argument about the level of costs, and any take up by other operators would be on a restricted basis, preventing full realisation of the benefits which the widespread introduction of Number Portability would bring (MMC report of November 1995, Telephone Number Portability).
2.3 The MMC proposed the following rules on cost allocation:-
2.4 BT's licence was modified in line with the MMC recommendations on 29 July 1996, when the previous provisions on number portability were deleted and a new condition (condition 34C) was inserted in BT's licence (see Annex D). On the same day, the Director General directed BT to provide portability to other operators in accordance with the new licence condition.
2.5 The July 1996 modifications included deletion of previous provisions in BT's licence which required a cost benefit analysis and a technical feasibility study before the Director General could direct BT to provide portability. The MMC had recommended that these provisions were no longer appropriate: in 1993 Oftel had commissioned a cost benefit analysis of geographic number portability, which calculated that portability would produce net benefits to the UK of £1.4 billion over ten years; an industry group had examined the technical issues and concluded that geographic number portability was feasible. In addition, again following the MMC's recommendations, the new licence condition 34C sets out rules on cost allocation and provides the Director General with powers to determine standard charges on the basis of costs determined by him and allocated according to principles laid down by the MMC. The licence condition also requires BT to provide number portability in accordance with the Functional Specification, a set of detailed rules to enable the efficient implementation and utilisation of portability. The licence condition embodies the principle of reciprocity - BT is obliged to provide portability to any operator who, in turn, is willing and able to provide portability to BT.
2.6 The current provisions in most other operators' licences are modelled on the wording in BT's licence as it stood prior to the July 1996 modification. Others contain no provisions on number portability at all.
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3.1 Industry-wide consultation has shown that operators agree that portability should be introduced for geographic and non-geographic (including specially tariffed services) numbers and that cost-sharing (as recommended by the MMC) is an appropriate approach to charging. Despite this willingness by operators, Oftel considers that licence obligations are required to enable portability to be introduced efficiently and effectively in response to demand. Licence modifications are needed for a variety of reasons.
3.2 First, a consistent approach is needed for all operators. As noted in Chapter 2, there is a heterogenous selection of current licence provisions on number portability. The existing regulatory regime will not deliver portability in a manner compatible with the framework set in place by BT's licence condition 34C. For example, it will be vital for participants in portability to be obliged to abide by the terms of the relevant issue of the Functional Specification. It will also be essential to allow for the possibility of cost-sharing in any charging structure which underpins the delivery of a portability facility. Current licence provisions do not contain provisions on either of these.
3.3 Second, the regulatory framework should provide for portability of all types of numbers. With the forthcoming extension of portability to specially tariffed services, greater clarity is needed to make clear that the licence obligations include these.
3.4 Finally, there is a need to take account of forthcoming EU requirements.
In June 1996 the Council of the European Union adopted a common position
on a Directive on Interconnection in Telecommunications, which sets
a target date of
1 January 2003 for the introduction of geographic number portability in
all major centres of population in the EU. This legislation is currently
in the final stages of negotiation with the European Parliament prior to
adoption.
3.5 Further legislative proposals may be produced by the European Commission. In November 1996 the European Commission published a Green Paper A Numbering Policy for Telecommunications Services in Europe. This identifies portability as an essential condition for full competition and proposes bringing forward the implementation date to 2000 and extending its scope to include mobile and specially tariffed services. A joint DTI/Oftel response to the Green Paper, published in February 1997, broadly supported these proposals but suggested that portability should be introduced in all areas of the EU (not just 'major centres of population') by 1999. In February 1997 Oftel and DTI organised a workshop on the Green Paper, attended by UK consumer groups, user groups and operators. Feedback from this workshop indicated strong support for number portability and suggested that the Commission's target date of 2000 should be brought forward.
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4.1 In order for number portability to work effectively, Oftel considers that it should be provided by anyone who allocates numbers to end-users or is authorised to do so. Anyone to whom Oftel has allocated blocks of numbers should provide for those numbers to be portable.
4.2 Oftel is therefore proposing modifications to all licences, granted under Section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984, for fixed telecommunication services which contain a condition on numbering arrangements. This includes all fixed network Public Telecommunication Operator (PTO) licences, broadband cable licences, Local Delivery Operator (LDO) cable licences, International Simple Resale (ISR) licences, individual satellite service licences, individual licences held by independent service providers, and one broadcasting licence. The licences affected are listed in Annex B.
4.3 This licence modification provides for portability of geographic and non-geographic numbers. It does not cover mobile services. Oftel does attach a high priority to the introduction of mobile number portability. We will be publishing a separate Statement in May with proposals for modifying mobile operators' licences; this will address the question of mobile number portability, as well as the provision of fixed geographic and non-geographic portability by mobile operators. This Statement, and the proposed licence modifications, will set a timetable for the early introduction of mobile number portability.
4.4 The proposed licence condition will be included in any relevant new licences issued under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984.
4.5 Oftel's Statement Promoting Competition in Services over Telecommunication Networks, published in February 1997, set out plans for allocating numbers directly to independent service providers. At present, only those operating under an individual licence containing the 'Relevant Numbering Condition' may obtain numbers directly from Oftel. The Numbering Condition contained in those licences imposes obligations with respect to the allocation of numbers which are designed to ensure the efficient use of numbering resources. Oftel intends to move to a situation where it is no longer necessary to have an individual licence in order to obtain numbering capacity, but where numbers can be allocated to those operating under the 'Telecommunication Services' Class Licence (TSL). Before this can be done, the Relevant Numbering Condition will need to be incorporated in the TSL, and Oftel will be considering this with the Department of Trade and Industry over the coming months. The Statement also made clear that independent service providers with direct allocations of numbers will be required to provide number portability. Any modifications to the TSL would therefore include provisions on number portability closely modelled on the licence condition proposed here. In the meantime, independent service providers requiring numbering capacity may continue to apply for individual licences for this purpose. Any such licences granted to independent service providers would include the proposed condition on number portability.
4.6 Oftel is not proposing to apply the number portability condition to current International Facilities Licences (IFL) since the DTI and Oftel intend to combine IFLs with domestic PTO licences later this year; however, these new licences will include the proposed number portability licence condition.
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5.1 The proposed modification is a discrete addition to existing licence obligations. It is to be applied to all relevant operators at the same time. In each licence, existing provisions on numbering arrangements will be supplemented by a new condition on number portability. The proposed condition will replace any existing provisions on portability. The text of the condition is set out in Annex A.
5.2 In drafting the licence modifications, Oftel has been guided by the principles enunciated in the 1995 MMC report on number portability.
5.3 The MMC report gave detailed recommendations for the licensing provisions which should apply to BT. It did not contain specific proposals for the rules which should be applied to other operators, but did conclude that: "The DGT [Director General of Telecommunications] will have to consider how OLOs' [other operators'] licences should be modified to deal with NP [number portability] costs. We believe that it would be a straightforward matter for him to apply the same regime as we have recommended for BT, mutatis mutandis, to OLOs when they are in the position of exporting numbers"
5.4 The MMC also restricted its recommendations to geographic number portability and did not address in any detail the question of portability of non-geographic numbers (specially tariffed services), although these were included in its terms of reference. The MMC report stated that "the modifications which we specify are not intended to apply to the porting of non-geographic numbers but will help the parties in reaching agreement on any further modification of the licence condition which may prove necessary to cater for other forms of portability". The exclusion of non-geographic numbers from the scope of its recommendations was largely based on an assumption that non-geographic portability would be implemented using an 'Intelligent Network' approach (whereby all numbers are 'looked up' on a number database) which could generate different issues. Since then operators have agreed that initial implementation of non-geographic portability will be based on a simpler 'digit-decode' solution similar to that adopted for geographic number portability (whereby the original operator 'decodes' incoming calls to ported numbers and then passes them on to the new operator). There is, therefore, a strong case for applying the principles recommended by the MMC.
5.5 The proposed licence condition would require the Licensee to provide portability on request from another qualifying Operator. This obligation would come into force as soon as the condition is incorporated into the Licence, from which date Licensees will be expected to be able to provide portability or to have work in hand to ensure the earliest possible introduction of such capability.
5.6 The principle of reciprocity would apply: the operator requesting portability must be able and willing to provide the same extent of portability as that requested. Thus, the Licensee is only obliged to provide portability if the party requesting it is able to offer reciprocal portability. The obligations on the Qualifying Operator are based on the Licensee's licence: the Licensee is not obliged to provide portability to the Qualifying Operator if the Qualifying Operator does not offer the same extent of portability, on reasonable terms and in accordance with the Functional Specification. It should be borne in mind that the Qualifying Operator will also operate under a Licence granted under Section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 and will, therefore, have similar licence obligations to the Licensee.
5.7 The Licensee will be required to offer portability to anyone meeting the criteria described above. It has been suggested, during consultation, that portability should only be offered to operators who have made a significant contribution to network investment. Oftel does not accept this argument. Portability should be available to market entrants as well as established market players who have developed extensive networks. Portability is concerned with protecting customers' interests with regard to numbers: all telecommunication customers should be able to keep their phone number when they change operator. Phone numbers are a national resource to be used for the benefit of customers. Numbers are allocated to - but not owned by - operators. Portability should be available to all customers, irrespective of which operator or independent service provider they move to.
5.8 Another suggestion was that the Qualifying Operator must have direct interconnection with the Licensee. Oftel considers that direct interconnection with the Licensee may prove an advantage for any Qualifying Operator, since it may reduce transit costs. As such, portability may promote direct connection between operators. But it is up to operators to decide, on a commercial basis, whether they want direct connection - this should not be a regulatory requirement.
5.9 The MMC's recommendations on the allocation of costs associated with portability were based on the following six principles:-
(a) cost causation: those who contemplate purchasing some good or services, and thus cause costs to be incurred, should face prices which reflect those costs;
(b) cost minimisation: those who can affect the size of costs should face incentives to minimise them; this entails the enhancement of operational efficiency and the rapid adoption of cost-saving technologies.
(c) distribution of benefits: taking account of distribution of benefits between those customers who port their number and the benefits to telecommunication users in general;
(d) effective competition: the introduction of portability, by strengthening competition, will lead to increased efficiency and lower costs for all operators, the benefits of which will be passed on to consumers;
(e) reciprocity and symmetry: arrangements between operators to provide portability should be reciprocal; cost allocation therefore needs to take account of the fact that the 'exporting' operator can also be an 'importing' operator;
(f) practicability: cost allocation must be practical and relatively easy to implement;
5.10 The MMC report focused on the allocation and recovery of costs associated with the provision of geographic portability by BT. Oftel proposes to apply the same principles to other operators and for non-geographic number portability. The licence modification (Annex A) would require both the Licensee and the Qualifying Operator to abide by the following charging principles. These are based on cost sharing, recognising the fact that whilst, on the one hand, number portability does lead to extra costs for the Licensee, on the other hand there are benefits to existing subscribers who do not port their numbers.
(a) charges shall be based on fully allocated costs of providing Portability or incremental costs (if that is what BT's costs are based on) unless the Donor and Recipient Operators shall have agreed another cost basis, or the Director shall have determined, following an application by either or both Operators, that another cost basis should be used;
The MMC's recommendations were based on the principle that charges for portability should be cost-based. Fully allocated costs are the most appropriate basis whilst BT's charges are based on such costs. When BT's charges move to an incremental cost base (as proposed in Oftel's review of network charge controls), incremental costs will become a more appropriate basis for portability charges. However, the Licence condition recognises that the donor and recipient operators may agree upon a different basis. For example, they may agree that charges should be on a reciprocal basis. In addition, one or both of the operators may ask the Director to determine the appropriate cost basis.
(b) The Donor Operator shall make no charge in relation to its System Set-Up Costs:
System Set-up costs are those incurred by each operator to ensure that his network and management systems can provide portability. The MMC concluded that "system set-up costs are an essential part of the investment which any operator needs to make in providing telecommunication services." Requiring the Licensee to bear its own system set-up costs in full will bring about cost minimisation, recognises the wide distribution of benefits and will promote effective competition.
(c) subject to (b) above, the Recipient Operator shall pay charges based on the reasonable costs incurred by the Donor Operator in providing Portability with respect to each Number which, subject to (d) below may be paid by way of a specific charge relating to specified elements of the provision of the facility ;
As the MMC noted, the principle of cost causation is most directly applicable to costs incurred with respect to setting up portability for each number or numbers. These should be borne by the operator to whom the number is being ported (the 'recipient operator').
(d) The Donor Operator shall make no specific charge based on Additional Conveyance Costs;
Additional conveyance costs are the costs of conveyance of each call to a ported number additional to the costs of conveyance of non-ported calls. The Donor Operator may not charge the recipient operator a specific 'portability' charge for such additional conveyance. The cost of additional conveyance should be subsumed into the donor operator's general network costs, spreading the cost over all calls on the network.
Such an approach follows the principle of cost minimisation, by encouraging operators to minimise additional conveyance and thus adopt the most efficient routing method of providing portability. It also reflects the distribution of benefits: additional conveyance costs are incurred by calls to the ported number; it is in relation to additional conveyance costs that benefits most directly arise to calling customers (whose calls may originate on any network). Moreover, as stated by the MMC, the provision of portability is an essential feature of a competitive telecommunication market: "It follows that the routeing of calls to ported numbers should be regarded as a normal part of a telecommunication service and not a facility requiring special charging arrangements, particularly as telephone numbers are now a national resource and no longer 'owned' by individual operators."
The MMC did propose an exception to this rule for BT, by allowing for recovery of additional conveyance until 31 October 1997, when a feature known as 'call drop back' is due to introduced in BT's network. This recognised that before the introduction of call drop back, calls to ported numbers would undergo 'tromboning'. Tromboning occurs when there is an additional loop, which continues for the duration of the call, within the donor network in the call path to a ported number. Tromboning is related to the two-tier nature of BT's network. The MMC noted that tromboning is unlikely to affect operators other than BT, in the short term at least. Unlike BT, most other operators either interconnect at their local exchange or have a single tier network, with no distinction between trunk and local exchanges. The proposed licence condition is based on the assumption that operators do not have two-tier networks which would give rise to tromboning. If they are planning on introducing such a network, they will wish to consider including a call drop-back capability to prevent tromboning.
5.11 In the event of a dispute, both the Operator requesting portability and the Licensee would be able to request the Director General's determinations of the reasonableness of:-
5.12 Further details of how Oftel would exercise this power of determination are given in the following chapter. This condition is designed to apply equally to the Licensee and the Qualifying Operator: either party can request a determination of the reasonableness of any terms or conditions offered by the other.
5.13 Unlike BT's licence condition, Oftel is not proposing to provide for an annual determination of other operators' portability charges. Such a requirement is only applicable to BT, as the dominant operator. Oftel would normally expect other operators to reach commercial agreement on charges. But, as explained above, operators may request a determination of the 'reasonableness' of a particular charge.
5.14 The licence condition provides for portability of:-
5.15 The extent of portability can only cover number ranges held by the Licensee and Qualifying Operator. Thus, an operator with no allocations of freephone numbers could not be obliged to provide portability of freephone numbers; equally, a Qualifying Operator without such allocations could not request portability of freephone numbers. Similarly, in the future, a fixed network operator would not be obliged to provide mobile number portability.
5.16 If requested by Oftel, the Licensee will be required to provide a record of all numbers in relation to which it is providing portability, specifying the relevant Qualifying Operator in each case. This is intended to provide details of what numbers are being ported and to whom at a particular point in time. This is not a new obligation: a similar requirement already exists in the Numbering Conventions. This has been included in the licence condition in order to facilitate the possible introduction of any central number portability databases, which may be required for future IN-based (Intelligent Network) implementation of number portability.
5.17 It is intended that inter-operator portability should be available to any end-user, regardless of whether they have obtained their number directly from a Licensee or from an independent service provider or reseller, to whom a Licensee has provided a sub-allocation of numbers. It is the Licensee's obligation to ensure that any number which has been allocated to him by Oftel can be ported to a Qualifying Operator. Thus, if a Licensee sub-allocates numbers to another body which provides services over telecommunication networks to the public, he should take appropriate measures to ensure that, upon request from a Qualifying Operator, those numbers can be ported. Oftel would expect contractual arrangements between any Licensee and a person to whom it has sub-allocated numbers to deal with this situation. This principle is also covered in the Functional Specification.
5.18 Once a number has been ported to one operator, the customer may wish to switch again to another operator, still retaining the original number. Provided the customer is not returning to the operator from whom he first obtained the number, these subsequent changes of operator are known as 'Subsequent Portability'. So far as the original operator is concerned, it makes no difference, in regulatory terms, whether the portability it is providing is an initial or a subsequent port: all calls will have to be routed over its network. Whilst there are certain rules to be observed between network operators when providing Subsequent Portability, there is no need for separate provision to be made in the Licence condition to cover it. Subsequent Portability will involve a third party - a 'new' recipient operator who must be a Qualifying Operator. The regulatory obligations would be between the Licensee and the 'new' recipient operator. For regulatory purposes, the 'old' recipient operator is not involved. In cases of Subsequent Portability, the reciprocal nature of the agreement would be between the Licensee and the 'new' recipient operator.
5.19 Number mobility is a service offered by operators which enables a customer to retain his number when he changes address. This is sometimes confused with number portability. Number mobility is most frequently offered, for a nominal fee, to customers who move address but stay within the same local exchange area.
5.20 Some operators also offer, for a higher sum, number mobility to
customers who are moving outside their existing local exchange area (known
as an 'out-of-area line'). In such cases, calling parties continue to pay
the published tariff for calling that number. For example, someone living
in central London and calling an 0171 number would pay a local rate. If
someone has taken their 0171 number to, say, Glasgow, a caller from central
London would continue to pay a local rate. The customer being called pays
the difference. This ensures that callers are able to
identify the call charge from the number.
5.21 The licence condition does not cover the concept of number mobility, since mobility is a separate service from portability. In some cases number mobility may be provided at the same time, or after, number portability (ie a customer changes operator and address but retains his number). In such cases, the ability to provide mobility rests entirely with the new operator (the 'recipient operator') - it is not dependent on the old operator (the 'donor operator').
5.22 The Functional Specification does include one rule on mobility: that, for a ported number, the recipient operator can only provide mobility within the service area of the donor operator. The Functional Specification defines 'service area' in this context. This is designed to ensure that the customer can port his number back to the donor operator if he wishes, by restoring his connection to the donor operator's network without 'out-of-area' processes being instigated.
5.23 Multi-number porting, when a block of numbers (ranging from 2 to 10,000) used by a single customer are ported, and multi-line porting, when there is more than one line associated with a number, are not specifically mentioned in the Licence condition. They are simply types of portability and are embraced by the Licence Condition, with special rules applying under the Functional Specification.
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6.1 The following paragraphs set out the approach which Oftel would take in any determination on the reasonableness of certain matters requested under the proposed number portability licence condition.
6.2 It should be noted that a request for a determination should be treated as a last resort. Oftel would expect the Qualifying Operator and Licensee to attempt to resolve any issues before requesting a determination. Oftel will not proceed with such a determination unless it is satisfied that the requesting party, at least, has made full efforts to negotiate an agreement.
6.3 Any request for a determination regarding number portability should:-
6.4 The licence condition allows the Licensee or Qualifying Operator to request a determination of the reasonableness of a number of terms associated with portability. For each of these, the following paragraphs set out a guide to the information which should be contained in any request and the principles which Oftel would apply in making any determination. In the event that a determination was not acted upon by the relevant parties, the Director General would have the power to issue an order requiring compliance.
(i) the request for the provision of Portability, taking into account the technical and operational characteristics of the Licensee's Applicable Systems and, if relevant, those of the applicable systems of the Qualifying operator;
6.5 A Licensee may consider that he is unable to provide portability at a particular point in time, due to the technical or operational nature of his system. Any request for a determination of this should explain exactly why the Operator is unable to provide portability and indicate what action he proposes to take to remedy this situation and the timescale involved.
6.6 In making any determination, Oftel would apply the principle that all Licensees should be able to provide portability for all the number ranges they hold. Publication of this Statement constitutes notice to all Licensees that they must take necessary measures to ensure that they are able to do so.
6.7 Oftel would recognise that in some cases it may be unreasonable to require portability as soon as the new condition is incorporated into the Licence if, for example, network or systems development are needed in order to provide portability. Such an inability to provide portability may be limited to a particular exchange or type of portability, such as portability of multi-line numbers. In examining such cases, Oftel would take account of the following:-
6.8 The Director may, as part of his determination, indicate when it would be reasonable for the Licensee to provide the portability requested.
6.9 If the Licensee considers that the Qualifying Operator is unable to provide reciprocal portability, his request for a determination should provide as much information as possible as to why he has reason to believe that this is so. The Director would determine that any request for portability is unreasonable if the Qualifying Operator is unable to provide portability. The technical and operational characteristics of the Qualifying Operator's Applicable Systems must be able to support the portability requested from the Licensee and to provide reciprocal portability to the Licensee. The Qualifying Operator must be able to provide portability before he can request it from the Licensee.
(ii) the extent of Portability requested;
6.10 Any request for a determination of the reasonableness of the extent of portability requested should specify what aspect of the extent is considered to be unreasonable and explain why.
6.11 Oftel would apply the following principles to any questions related to extent:-
(iii) the costs including the cost basis used for calculating such costs, incurred in providing Portability;
6.12 Any request for a determination under this provision should specify which particular cost components or category of costs are the subject of the request, or the costs basis used and explain why they might be considered unreasonable.
6.13 The Director may determine that a cost is not reasonable if it does not reflect any relevant economies of scale, for example the lower costs associated with porting a 10,000 block of numbers.
6.14 If requested to consider the reasonableness of the cost basis of charges, the Director would apply the principles set out in paragraph 1 (a) of the licence condition. Charges should be based on fully allocated costs or incremental costs if that is the basis for BT's charges, unless the Donor and Qualifying Operator had agreed to use another cost basis (such as reciprocity) or if the Director has determined, on request from either of the Operators, that another cost basis should be used.
(iv) the categorisation of costs
6.15 Any request for a determination should specify particular cost components and why it might be considered unreasonable for these to be included in a particular cost category. In determining the reasonableness of the categorisation of any costs, the Director would refer to the categories set out in paragraph 1 (b), (c) and (d) of the licence condition and the definitions of 'additional conveyance costs' and 'system set-up costs' in the licence condition.
6.16 Categorisation of the various types of data management amendments would follow the principles applied in the determination of BT's number portability costs and charges.
(v) the proposed use or use of a higher cost method in proposing to implement or implementing any aspect of Portability where a lower cost method could or ought to have been used;
6.17 The Director may determine that a cost is not reasonable if he considers that the Licensee or the Qualifying Operator could at the relevant time have used lower cost methods in implementing the relevant aspect of portability.
(vi) the charges to be made for providing Portability;
6.18 Any request for a determination of charges should identify the particular aspects of the proposed charges which the Director is asked to examine and explain why these might be considered unreasonable.
6.19 It would be unreasonable for any charges to break the principles set out in paragraph 1 of the licence condition. In particular the donor operator may not charge the recipient operator for system set-up costs or additional conveyance costs, nor may he seek to make unreasonable charges for providing other aspects of portability.
6.20 With respect to (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi) above, in considering the reasonableness of any costs, categorisation of cost, or charges, the Director may refer to any existing determination, made under condition 34.C of BT's licence, of BT's costs in providing portability or to any determination carried out under Condition 13 of BT's licence.
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7.1 BT's licence provisions on number portability were modified in July 1996, following the MMC's recommendations. Further modifications are now needed to take account of subsequent developments. In particular, more detailed provisions are required to take account of the forthcoming introduction of portability for specially tariffed numbers. A few of the existing provisions are now redundant and can be deleted. Oftel is therefore proposing to modify BT's licence at the same time as other operators' licences. In part these modifications reflect those being proposed for other operators. They also include some modifications which are particular to BT.
7.2 The proposed modifications to BT's licence condition 34C are set out in Annex C. The following paragraphs provide an explanation of these proposals.
7.3 The existing Condition 34C provides for the Director to direct BT to provide portability from a specified date. The Director issued such a direction on 29 July 1996. It is therefore proposed to replace this provision with an obligation to provide portability to any Operator (the Qualifying Operator) who meets certain criteria.
7.4 It is proposed to modify the definition of Qualifying Operator, bringing it into line with the rest of the proposed regime and allowing for greater clarity in relation to geographic and non-geographic number portability.
7.5 The proposed amendments to BT's licence condition 34C would not modify the substance of the existing provisions by which the Director may determine the reasonable costs of providing portability and the Standard Portability Charges. Two modifications are needed, however, to reflect developments since July 1996:-
(i) Determination for period ending 31 March 1997
The current condition specifies that the Director should determine costs and charges for the period up to 31 March 1997 (Condition 34C.2 (a) (i)). In January 1997 the Director produced a determination of BT's number portability costs and charges for the period 29 July 1996 to 31 March 1997. It is , therefore, appropriate to delete this provision. Thereafter determinations will be made annually in relation to each financial year ending on 31 March.
(ii) Additional Conveyance Costs: Non-geographic Number Portability
The current provisions on Additional Conveyance Costs (Condition 34C.2 (c) (ii)) were tailored to fit the particular case of geographic number portability. These provisions allow BT to recover some Additional Conveyance Costs by way of a Standard Portability Charge until 31 October 1997. In order to ensure early implementation, geographic portability was introduced before BT's system could perform a function known as call drop back, which ensures an efficient routing of calls to ported numbers. Without call drop back, ported calls are 'tromboned' (see paragraph 5.10 (d) above). A date was agreed by which BT should have introduced call drop back (31 October 1997). Before that date, BT can make a standard portability charge for a share of the additional conveyance costs resulting from the tromboning. After 31 October 1997 (whether call drop back is in operation or not), BT can not make a standard charge for additional conveyance. This formula was recommended by the MMC.
When portability of specially tariffed numbers is introduced later this year, BT's system will handle ported calls in two ways, depending on the nature of the number:-
This methodology reflects BT's historic methods of handling their own non-geographic numbers. At present they do not have the IN capability to handle the additional volume of national rate and premium rate calls. Oftel would expect the additional capability to be completed by 31 December 1998. Given that this situation is analogous to geographic number portability, Oftel proposes the following principles:-
(i) Any additional conveyance costs associated with calls to ported freephone and local rate numbers may not be recovered by way of a Standard Portability Charge. These costs must be treated in the same manner as costs recoverable by charges for interconnection, made under any agreement made in accordance with Condition 13 of BT's licence.
(ii) Additional conveyance costs shall not be recovered for calls to ported national rate numbers after 30 June 1998 and for calls to ported premium rate numbers after 31 December 1998. Before that date BT may, by a Standard Portability Charge, recover an amount representing half the difference between:
(a) additional Conveyance Costs associated with the DSN; and
(b) such additional conveyance costs as the Director determines that it would have incurred if such numbers were routed via the IN for the whole of that period.
This is based on the existing licence provisions on geographic number portability and the principles recommended by the MMC for additional conveyance of geographic number portability.
7.6 The proposed modifications include a new requirement for BT to provide the Director with information on ported numbers. This is identical to the provisions being proposed for other operators' licences (see paragraph 5.16).
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8.1 Portability must be provided in accordance with the Functional Specification. The Functional Specification is a document published from time to time by the Director General, following consultation with all Licensees, which specifies technical and other principles which are intended to enable the efficient implementation and utilisation of portability. The Functional Specification sets out the scope of the portability to be provided; specific rules relating to the processes to be carried out by operators and others to whom allocations of numbering capacity have been made, in order to ensure the efficient provision of portability; and some general rules concerning the efficient use of numbers where portability services are being offered.
8.2 The current Functional Specification (Issue 1, 29 July 1996) relates to BT's licence, since that is currently the only licence making provision for it. Oftel is revising it to include non-geographic number portability. The revised text is based closely on the existing Functional Specification referenced in BT's licence, which was agreed following consultation with all operators. The revised text would replace the existing Functional Specification and would be the text referred to in the proposed licence modifications. Further modifications may be required in the light of the non-geographic portability trials, which are currently underway. The text of the revised Functional Specification (Issue 2) is set out in Annex E. This includes a number of particular changes to the previous issue:-
It also defines the scope of non-geographic number portability by listing the number ranges for which portability is available. This takes account of the new specified numbering ranges announced in the January 1997 Oftel Statement The National Numbering Scheme. The January Statement proposed new number ranges for specially tariffed services and premium rate services. For freephone, local rate and national rate services, all new numbers will be allocated from 08 number ranges. As indicated in the January Statement, Portability will be available for existing specially tariffed service numbers which lie outside the 08 ranges. Premium rate services, however, must move to new 09 number ranges by 1999. In order to ensure rapid migration to the 09 ranges, and in view of the 'sunset date', portability will not be available for existing premium rate numbers outside the 09 ranges. However, prior to the sunset date, operators will provide end-users with new 09 numbers and introduce 'parallel running', whereby callers may dial either the old code or the new 09 code and still be connected. Oftel considers that during the period of parallel running, a customer porting his new 09 number should still be able to benefit from parallel running: so, in effect, both the 'old' and 'new' numbers would be ported [see Section D, 9, rule 2 of the Functional Specification].
8.3 At present the revised Functional Specification does not contain definitions of premium rate services. Oftel's January Statement The National Numbering Scheme proposed the introduction of 09 as the designated range for premium rate services. A sunset date of 1 January 1999 has been proposed for existing premium rate numbers. The January Statement explained that portability will only be permitted for numbers which conform to the new 09 range. The detailed sub-structure of the 09 range, which will reflect pricing and content, is currently being examined with operators and consumer groups. The final details of the sub-structure of 09 will be inserted in the Functional Specification once it has been decided.
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9.1 At present, portability is confined to geographic numbers ('ordinary' residential and business telephone numbers located in a specific geographic area of operators's fixed network).
9.2 In July 1997 operators will begin offering portability of some 'non-geographic numbers': freephone (eg 0800), local rate (eg 0345) and national rate (eg 0990) numbers. Later in the year, portability will be extended to premium rate premium rate services (eg 0898). All of these numbers are also referred to as 'specially tariffed services'.
9.3 Oftel also considers that portability should be extended as soon as possible to mobile services and to personal numbering. As indicated in paragraph 4.3 above, Oftel will be publishing proposals on mobile number portability in May 1997.
9.4 Personal Numbering is a service which allows calls made to one number to be redirected to various different phones in different locations. These are numbers which currently start with the prefix 070. As indicated in paragraph 5.14 (ii) above, although the definition of 'non-geographic portability' in the proposed licence modifications would embrace personal numbering, portability can not be introduced until technical and commercial issues have been resolved and the Functional Specification revised to include personal numbers.
9.5 Thus, personal numbering will not initially be covered by portability requirements. However, Oftel is committed to the introduction of portability for such numbers. Responses to the consultative document on the National Numbering Scheme published by Oftel in August 1996 showed user support for the extension of portability to personal numbering. The Oftel statement The National Numbering Scheme in January 1997 stated that portability of personal numbers will be examined further during the course of 1997. Recent media coverage has pointed to the significant prices at which some 'golden' personal numbers are being sold to customers. In view of this, it is essential that such numbers should become portable in the near future. Oftel will shortly be consulting operators and service providers on methods of implementation and, in the light of this, intends to issue proposals in the autumn of 1997.
9.6 Oftel will shortly be reviewing the nature of controls on BT's portability charges. The charge controls in BT's current licence condition 34C, and the revised condition proposed in this Statement, are based on the principle of an annual determination of Standard Portability Charges by the Director. This regime was recommended by the MMC and has only been in operation since July 1996. It does not, however, take account of Oftel's recent proposals, as set out in our December 1996 consultative document, Network Charges from 1997, for most standard interconnect services to move away from annual determinations based on fully allocated costs in favour of market based controls, based on long run incremental costs and including index-linking where appropriate. In May 1997 Oftel will be publishing a further consultative document on future network charges. This will seek views, inter alia, on future portability charge controls.
9.7 The proposed licence modifications do not provide for portability on demand from customers. Instead, they are based on the Licensee providing portability when requested by another operator. It is up to each operator to decide whether to request portability and offer it to new customers - whether to offer portability to customers is a commercial decision rather than a regulatory obligation. Oftel considers that, at the present time, it would not be appropriate to require all Licensees to provide portability on demand from customers. For the time being, it is right for the regulatory regime to focus on obligations between operators. However, Oftel considers that in the future portability will and should become a part of the standard service offered by all Licensees to all customers.
9.8 EU legislation will require such an approach in the future. The Interconnection Directive (referred to in Chapter 3) defines number portability as a "facility whereby end-users who so request can retain their number(s) on the fixed public telephone network at a specific location independent of the organization providing the service" and requires this facility to be available by 1 January 2003.
9.9 The proposed licence modifications represent, therefore, an initial stage in the development of portability. Before 2003 Oftel will review the licence conditions with a view to ensuring that the UK regulatory regime meets the requirements of the Directive.
9.10 In practice, Oftel would expect portability to be offered by all operators well before 2003. Geographic portability should be available to most customers within two years. Customers will increasingly come to expect portability as a normal service; operators will therefore face market pressures to offer portability to all their customers.
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10.1 In order to ensure the widespread availability of number portability, Oftel is proposing modifications to all licences, granted under Section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984, for fixed telecommunication services which contain a condition on numbering arrangements. These modifications:-
10.2 In view of the forthcoming extension of portability to specially tariffed services in July 1997, Oftel is proposing a revised Functional Specification which sets out some detailed rules for the provision of both geographic and non-geographic number portability.
10.3 Some modifications to BT's licence are also required to provide more detailed provisions on non-geographic number portability and to delete a few minor provisions which are now obsolete.
10.4 Oftel considers that number portability should be extended to mobile services as soon as possible. Oftel will be publishing proposals for modifications to mobile operators' licences in May 1997.
10.5 Portability should also be introduced for personal numbering. Oftel will issue proposals on this in autumn 1997.
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The current provisions on Number Portability in all licences which have such provisions (apart from BT's) are proposed to be deleted, and the following provisions inserted in their place. The following provisions will also be inserted in licences which currently have no provisions on Number Portability.
Separate proposals are made in relation to BT.
"NUMBER PORTABILITY
... 1 The Licensee shall provide Portability on reasonable terms in accordance with the Functional Specification and with the following provisions to any Qualifying Operator provided that no charges for the provision of Portability may be made contrary to the following principles:
(a) subject always to the requirement of reasonableness, charges shall be based, unless the charges made by British Telecommunications plc for the provision of telecommuni-cation services under Condition 13 of its licence granted under section 7 of the Act shall be based on incremental costs, in which case the cost basis shall be incremental costs, on the fully allocated costs of providing Portability unless the Donor and Recipient Operators shall have agreed another cost basis, or the Director shall have determined, following an application by either or both Operators, that another cost basis should be used;
(b) the Donor Operator shall make no charge in relation to its System Set-Up Costs;
(c) subject to sub-paragraph (b), the Recipient Operator shall pay charges based on the reasonable costs incurred by the Donor Operator in providing Portability with respect to each Number which, subject to sub-paragraph (d) may be paid by way of specific charge relating to specified elements of the provision of the facility;
(d) The Donor Operator shall make no specific charge based on Additional Conveyance Costs.
... 2 "Qualifying Operator" means an Operator which:
... 3 The extent of Portability means
(i) in relation to Geographic Portability, the area or any specified part thereof within which the Licensee or Qualifying Operator is entitled to provide telecommunication services, provided that Portability may only be sought or offered throughout any such area or specified part thereof;
(ii) in relation to Non-Geographic Portability, the Numbers sought and offered by the party requesting Portability, together with a description of both the services offered and tariff-bands charged to parties calling such Numbers.
... 4 Where a notice for the purposes of paragraph 2 has been given, the Licensee or the Qualified Operator may refer in writing to the Director for his determination any question as to the reasonableness of
(i) the request for the provision of Portability, taking into account the technical and operational characteristics of the Licensee's Applicable Systems and, if relevant, those of the applicable systems of the Qualifying Operator;
(ii) the extent of Portability requested;
(iii) the costs, including the cost basis used for calculating such costs, incurred in providing Portability;
(iv) the categorisation of costs;
(v) the proposed use or use of a higher cost method in proposing to implement or implementing any aspect of Portability where a lower cost method could or ought to have been used;
(vi) the charges to be made for providing Portability;
... 5 Before making any determination under paragraph 4 the Director shall consult with the Licensee and the relevant Qualifying Operator and with Interested Parties and take into account any representations made by them.
... 6 If requested in writing by the Director, the Licensee shall provide to the Director a record of each Number in relation to which it is providing Portability, specifying the relevant Qualifying Operator in each case.
... 7 For the purpose of this condition "Additional Conveyance Costs" means any costs incurred by a Donor Operator associated with resources used in -
(a) effecting the switch-processing required to set up each ported call, and
(b) providing the switch and transmission capacity for any part of the duration of each ported call
additional to the costs of conveyance of non-ported calls from the Applicable Systems to the Recipient Operator's system;
"Donor Operator" means the Licensee, where any Number allocated by the Licensee (or any Service Provider providing telecommunication services by means of the Applicable Systems of the Licensee) is the subject of any agreement or proposed agreement under which Portability will be provided, or any Qualifying Operator where any Number has been allocated by the Qualifying Operator (or any Service Provider providing telecommunication services by means of the Applicable Systems of the Qualifying Operator;)
"Functional Specification" means a document published from time to time by the Director following consultation with the Licensee and Interested Parties which specifies technical and other principles which are intended to enable the efficient implementation and utilisation of Portability;
"Geographic Portability" means Portability relating to Numbers allocated in accordance with the rules for the allocation of Area Numbering Ranges as provided for in the National Numbering Conventions;
"Interested Parties" means those persons, other than the Licensee and the relevant Qualifying Operator, with whom the Director considers it appropriate to consult;
"Non-Geographic Portability" means Portability relating to Numbers allocated in accordance with the rules for the allocation of Numbering Ranges other than Area Numbering Ranges as provided for in the National Numbering Conventions;
"Number", "Numbering Plan" and "National Numbering Conventions" each have the same meaning as in the Condition in this Licence relating to Numbering;
"Operator" means any person authorised to provide telecommunication services not being prohibited from receiving any financial benefit from such provision, and obliged, by virtue of provisions in the licence authorising provision of such services, to adopt a Numbering Plan for such Numbers as may have been allocated by the Director to that person in accordance with the National Numbering Conventions ;
"Portability" means a facility which may be provided by the Licensee and by any Qualifying Operator (as the case may be) to each other thereby enabling any person to whom a Number has been allocated (whether by the Licensee, any Qualifying Operator or any ServiceProvider) to continue to be provided with any telecommunication service by reference to the same Number irrespective of the identity of the person providing such service;
"Recipient Operator" means any Qualifying Operator, where any Number allocated by the Licensee (or any Service Provider providing telecommunication services by means of the Applicable Systems of the Licensee) is the subject of any agreement or proposed agreement under which Portability will be provided, or the Licensee where any Number has been allocated by the Qualifying Operator (or any Service Provider providing telecommunication services by means of the Applicable Systems of the Qualifying Operator.)
"Service Provider" means any person providing a service for reward to the public which is delivered entirely by means of a telecommunication system;
"System Set-Up Costs" means costs of the Donor Operator incurred -
(i) in the course of making network and system modifications, configurations or reconfigurations, including adapting or replacing software;
(ii) in the course of testing functionality within the Applicable Systems and in conjunction with any Recipient Operator's systems;
anywhere within the Licensed Area thereby establishing the technical and administrative capability to provide Portability."
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AT&T Communications (UK) Ltd
Atlantic Telecommunications Ltd
COLT Telecommunications
Eastern Group Telecoms Ltd
Energis Communications Ltd
Ionica L3 Ltd
Kingston upon Hull City Council and Kingson Communications (Hull) plc
Liberty Communications
MFS Communications Ltd
National Transcommunications Ltd
Norweb plc
Racal Network Services Ltd
Scottish Hydro- Electric plc
Scottish Power Telecommunications Ltd
Sprint Holding (UK) Ltd
SWEB Telecoms Ltd Telstra (UK) Ltd
Torch Communications Ltd
Videotron City and Westminster Ltd
WorldCom International Inc
Mercury Communications Limited
Telewest Communications plc
National Transcommunications Ltd
ACC Long Distance UK Ltd
Advanced Business Services Ltd
Allnet Communications Ltd [now known as Frontel Communications Ltd]
American Telemedia Ltd
Atlas International Services Ltd
Avirnex Communications UK Ltd
Blazezone Ltd
Cable & Wireless plc
Cellcom Ltd
Cherry Communications Inc
Concert Communications Company
DTT UK Ltd
Energy Select Ltd
Esprit Telecom of the UK Ltd
Facilicom International (UK) LLC
Global Telnet Ltd [now known as First Telecom]
Globalstar International Telecom (UK) Ltd
Golden Pages Jersey Ltd
Incom UK Ltd
International Exchange Network
Ixnet Ltd
Interoute Telecoms Ltd
Kardon Telecom (UK) Ltd
London Digital Ltd
Long Distance International Ltd
Mark Telecommunications Ltd
Mercury Data Networks Services Ltd
MTC International Inc
Pacific Gateway Exchange (UK) Ltd
Premiere Communications Inc
Primus Telecommunications Inc
RSL Communications Ltd
Spacetel UK Ltd
Swiftnet Ltd
Technology Control Services UK Ltd
Teleglobe International UK Ltd
Telelink Communications USA Ltd
Telia International UK Ltd
Telinco Ltd
Thurnall plc
TMI Telemedia International Ltd
Unisource (UK) Ltd
United Worldwide Telecom Ltd
USFI Inc
Viatel UK Ltd
World Telecommunications Corporation Ltd
World Telecom plc
Worldcall plc
Worldxchange Communications Ltd
Global Numbers Ltd
Goodall Personal Numbering Ltd [now known as FlexTel]
IIISS-Numbering Viewed Worldwide Ltd
Redstone Network Services
Talkland International
Personal Number Company plc
Telecommunications Premium Services Ltd
Cable licences |
|||
| Broadband Cable PTOs | |||
| Licensee | Franchise | Date licence issued | |
| Westminster Cable Company Limited | Westminster | 26 April 1985 | |
| Broadband Ventures Limited | Westminster | 26 April 1985 | |
| Aberdeen Cable Services Limited | Aberdeen | 20 May 1985 | |
| Broadband Ventures Limited | Aberdeen | 20 May 1985 | |
| Coventry Cable Limited | Coventry | 22 May 1985 | |
| Broadband Ventures Limited | Coventry | 22 May 1985 | |
| CableTel Glasgow Limited | NW Glasgow/Clydebank | 7 June 1985 | |
| Videotron Ealing Limited | Ealing | 24 September 1985 | |
| Windsor Television Limited | Windsor | 30 September 1985 | |
| Bell CableMedia (South East) Limited | Newham/Tower Hamlets | 1 July 1986 | |
| Swindon Cable Limited | Swindon | 31 December 1986 | |
| Videotron West London Limited | Kensington & Chelsea | 3 May 1988 | |
| United Artists Communications (Cotswolds) Limited | Cheltenham & Gloucester | 26 August 1988 | |
| Videotron Southampton and Eastleigh Limited | Southampton | 23 January 1989 | |
| NYNEX CableComms East Lancashire | Blackburn | 21 June 1989 | |
| Andover Cablevision Limited | Andover | 28 June 1989 | |
| Cable Camden Limited | Camden | 7 August 1989 | |
| CableTel Bedfordshire Limited | South Bedfordshire | 23 August 1989 | |
| Cable Communications (Liverpool) Ltd | Liverpool South | 14 October 1989 | |
| Lancashire Cable Television Limited | Preston | 14 October 1989 | |
| Birmingham Cable Limited | Birmingham | 2 November 1989 | |
| Bell CableMedia (South East) Limited | Greater London East | 16 November 1989 | |
| United Artists Communications (Avon) Limited | Avon | 5 December 1989 | |
| Scotcable (Cumbernauld) Limited | Cumbernauld | 18 January 1990 | |
| Scotcable (Dumbarton) Limited | Dumbarton | 18 January 1990 | |
| Scotcable (Motherwell) Limited | Motherwell | 18 January 1990 | |
| United Artists Communications (London South) plc | Merton & Sutton | 23 January 1990 | |
| Bell CableMedia (Norwich) Limited | Norwich | 19 February 1990 | |
| Videotron South London Limited | Greenwich & Lewisham | 15 March 1990 | |
| Bell CableMedia (Peterborough) Limited | Peterborough | 2 April 1990 | |
| Cable Haringey Limited | Haringey | 4 April 1990 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Bolton | Bolton | 4 April 1990 | |
| Diamond Cable (Nottingham) Limited | Nottingham | 17 April 1990 | |
| Videotron South London Limited | Wandsworth | 1 May 1990 | |
| Videotron South London Limited | Lambeth & Southwark | 1 May 1990 | |
| United Artists Communications (London South) plc | Kingston & Richmond | 8 May 1990 | |
| CableTel West Glamorgan Limited | West Glamorgan | 18 May 1990 | |
| East Coast Cable Limited | Ipswich & Colchester | 7 June 1990 | |
| Eurobell (Sussex) Limited | Crawley, Horley & Gatwick | 9 July 1990 | |
| Cambridge Cable Limited | Cambridge | 13 July 1990 | |
| Eurobell (South West) Limited | South Devon | 17 July 1990 | |
| Herts Cable Limited | West Herts | 13 August 1990 | |
| Videotron West London Limited | NW London | 31 August 1990 | |
| Diamond Cable (Leicester) Limited | Leicester | 3 September 1990 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Derby | Derby | 3 September 1990 | |
| Cable Television Limited | Northampton | 4 September 1990 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Sussex | Brighton | 28 September 1990 | |
| Bell CableMedia (South Hertfordshire) Limited | South Herts | 15 October 1990 | |
| Bell CableMedia (Fenland) Limited | Wisbech | 29 October 1990 | |
| Bell CableMedia (York) Limited | York | 29 October 1990 | |
| Bell CableMedia (Harrogate) Limited | Harrogate | 29 October 1990 | |
| Cable Hackney & Islington Limited | Hackney & Islington | 29 October 1990 | |
| Heartland Cablevision II (UK) Limited | Nuneaton | 31 October 1990 | |
| Doncaster Cable Communications Limited | Doncaster & Rotherham | 1 November 1990 | |
| Cable Thames Valley Limited | Reading, Newbury, Basingstoke, High Wycombe |
2 November 1990 | |
| Cable North (Forth District) Limited | Falkirk | 11 November 1990 | |
| Barnsley Cable Communications Limited | Barnsley | 14 November 1990 | |
| Cable Communications (Wigan) Limited | Wigan | 14 November 1990 | |
| United Artists Communications (North Thames Estuary) Limited | Chelmsford, Southend, Basildon | 14 November 1990 | |
| Heartland Cablevision II (UK) Limited | Rugby | 21 November 1990 | |
| Cable Enfield Limited | Enfield | 25 November 1990 | |
| Bell CableMedia (South East) Limited | Waltham Forest | 29 November 1990 | |
| Anglia Cable Limited | Harlow & Bishops Stortford | 29 November 1990 | |
| Cable Communications (Liverpool) Limited | Liverpool North | 30 November 1990 | |
| United Artists Communications (South Thames Estuary) Limited | Gravesend, Chatham, Maidstone, Sittingbourne |
30 November 1990 | |
| Bell CableMedia (Kent) Limited | SE Kent | 30 November 1990 | |
| Stafford Communications Limited | Stafford | 4 December 1990 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Stockport | Stockport | 8 December 1990 | |
| Cable Communications (St Helens and Knowsley) Limited | St Helens & Knowsley | 8 December 1990 | |
| Bell CableMedia (Leeds) Limited | Leeds | 8 December 1990 | |
| CableTel Central Hertfordshire Limited | Central Hertfordshire | 8 December 1990 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Staffordshire | Stoke | 19 December 1990 | |
| Heartland Cablevision (UK) Limited | Stratford & Warwick | 19 December 1990 | |
| Sheffield Cable Communications Ltd | Sheffield | 19 December 1990 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Macclesfield | Macclesfield | 19 December 1990 | |
| CableTel Kirklees | Huddersfield | 20 December 1990 | |
| United Artists Communications (Scotland) Limited | Edinburgh | 20 December 1990 | |
| Halifax Cable Communications Limited | Halifax | 7 January 1991 | |
| CableTel North Bedfordshire Limited | North Bedfordshire | 9 January 1991 | |
| Videotron Harrow Limited | Harrow | 9 January 1991 | |
| CableTel Hertfordshire Limited | Hertford | 11 January 1991 | |
| Diamond Cable (Grimclee) Limited | Grimsby & Cleethorpes | 16 January 1991 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Wirral Limited | Wirral | 16 January 1991 | |
| Bell CableMedia (Broadland) Limited | Great Yarmouth | 17 January 1991 | |
| Tayside Cable Systems Limited | Perth | 17 January 1991 | |
| Tayside Cable Systems Limited | Dundee | 17 January 1991 | |
| Diamond Cable (Lincoln) Limited | Lincoln | 17 January 1991 | |
| CableTel Newport | Newport | 23 January 1991 | |
| Bell CableMedia (South East) Limited | Havering | 23 January 1991 | |
| West Midlands Cable Communications Limited | Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall, Sandwell, Kidderminster |
25 January 1991 | |
| CableTel Glasgow | Greater Glasgow | 29 January 1991 | |
| CableTel Glasgow | Paisley | 29 January 1991 | |
| CableTel Glasgow | Bearsden | 29 January 1991 | |
| CableTel Glasgow | Greenock | 29 January 1991 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Cheshire | North Cheshire | 31 January 1991 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Bromley | Bromley | 7 February 1991 | |
| Wakefield Cable Communications Limited | Wakefield | 7 February 1991 | |
| Wessex Cable Limited | Salisbury | 7 February 1991 | |
| Middlesex Cable Limited | Hillingdon & Hounslow | 15 February 1991 | |
| Bell CableMedia (Aylesbury and Chiltern) Limited | Aylesbury | 18 February 1991 | |
| Diamond Cable (Mansfield) Limited | Mansfield | 20 February 1991 | |
| Comcast Teesside Limited | Teesside | 21 February 1991 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Surrey | North & North East Surrey | 6 March 1991 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Manchester | Greater Manchester | 18 March 1991 | |
| Comcast Darlington Limited | Darlington | 18 March 1991 | |
| Diamond Cable (Newark) Limited | Newark | 27 March 1991 | |
| Diamond Cable (Melton Mowbray) Limited | Melton Mowbray | 27 March 1991 | |
| Diamond Cable (Grantham) Limited | Grantham | 27 March 1991 | |
| Northampton Cable Television Limited | Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough | 27 March 1991 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Solent | Portsmouth | 9 April 1991 | |
| Windsor Television Limited | Iver & Iver Heath | 11 April 1991 | |
| Telford Telecommunications Limited | Telford | 12 April 1991 | |
| Kingdom Cablevision Limited | Glenrothes | 18 April 1991 | |
| Videotron Hampshire Limited | Winchester | 22 April 1991 | |
| United Artists Communications (North East) Partnership | Tyneside | 26 April 1991 | |
| Oxford Cable Limited | Oxford | 22 May 1991 | |
| Videotron Thamesmead Limited | Thamesmead | 6 June 1991 | |
| Bell Cablemedia (South East) Limited | Dartford | 11 March 1993 | |
| Bell CableMedia (South East) Limited | Epping | 1 April 1993 | |
| Yorkshire Cable Communications Limited | Bradford | 15 July 1993 | |
| Bell CableMedia (Wearside) Partnership | Wearside | 24 September 1993 | |
| TeleWest Communications (Worcester) Limited | Worcester | 25 September 1993 | |
| CableTel Surrey Limited | Guildford | 13 October 1993 | |
| CableTel Cardiff Limited | Cardiff | 13 October 1993 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Rochdale and Bury | Bury & Rochdale | 14 December 1993 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Oldham and Tameside | Oldham & Tameside | 14 December 1993 | |
| NYNEX CableComms Wessex | Bournemouth | 16 December 1993 | |
| United Artists Communications (London South) plc | Croydon | 14 January 1994 | |
| LDO PTOs | |||
| Eurobell (West Kent) Ltd | West Kent | 14 October 1996 | |
| CableTel Northern Ireland Ltd | Northern Ireland | 4 November 1996 | |
| Videotron Southampton and Eastleigh Ltd | Totton and Hythe | 4 November 1996 | |
| CableTel South Wales Ltd | Glamorgan & Gwent | 4 November 1996 | |
| TeleWest Communications Fylde and Wyre Ltd | Blackpool | 19 December 1996 | |
| Lichfield Cable Communications Ltd | Lichfield and Tamworth | 19 December 1996 | |
| TeleWest Communications (Southport) Ltd | Southport | 19 December 1996 | |
| Birmingham Cable Ltd | Wythall | 6 January 1997 | |
Satellite services operators |
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| E-Sat Telecomms Ltd | 02 April 1993 | ||
| PanAmSat LP | 19 April 1993 | ||
| Kingston Communications (Hull) plc | 26 October 1993 | ||
| Incom (UK) Ltd | 11 November 1993 | ||
| Maxat Ltd | 01 October 1994 | ||
| TLI (Teleport London International) | 08 November 1995 | ||
| Satellite Information Services Ltd | 08 November 1995 | ||
| Data Marine Systems Ltd | 16 April 1996 | ||
| ITG (UK) Ltd | 16 April 96 | ||
| SNG Broadcast Services Ltd | 08 October 1996 | ||
| HSCo Ltd | 23 January 1997 | ||
| WSCo Ltd | 31 January 1997 | ||
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Note: text in bold is from existing BT licence condition 34C; text in italics is same as text of licence condition proposed for other operators; normal font is new text
34C.1 The Licensee shall provide Portability on reasonable terms in accordance with the Functional Specification and with the following provisions to any Qualifying Operator.
34C.2 "Qualifying Operator" means an Operator which:
34C.3 The extent of Portability means:
34C.4 Where a notice for the purposes of paragraph 34C.2 has been given, the Licensee or the Qualifying Operator may refer in writing to the Director for his determination any question as to the reasonableness of:
provided that no reference shall be made under this sub-paragraph with respect to charges otherwise determinable by the Director under the provisions of this Condition.
34C.5 (a) The Director may determine, subject to the following provisions, the reasonable costs of the Licensee in providing Portability and the Standard Portability Charges allowing the recovery of such costs, to be paid by each Qualifying Operator annually in relation to each financial year ending on 31 March.
(b) Any determination of costs made under sub-paragraph (a) shall:
(i) be based upon the Licensee's fully allocated costs of providing Portability, calculated on the basis of information provided by the Licensee to the Director by virtue of its obligations under Condition 13 and related provisions of this Licence, and in response to any written request by the Director made under this paragraph for the purposes of this Condition which shall be responded to within the reasonable time limits specified in the request, unless some other cost-basis shall have been substituted in relation to the charges determined by the Director or otherwise provided for under the provisions of Condition 13 of this Licence, in which case the Director may determine appropriate arrangements for altering the cost-base in order to conform with those provisions which shall accordingly apply to any determination made under sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph on or after the date on which such alteration takes effect;
(ii) subject to sub-paragraph (d)(ii), categorise the Licensee's reasonable costs incurred in providing Portability as System Set-Up Costs, Per Line Set-Up Costs, Administrative Costs and, for the purposes of sub-paragraph (c)(ii) -(iv) of this paragraph, Additional Conveyance Costs.
(c) Any determination of Standard Portability Charges made under sub-paragraph (a) shall be subject to the following provisions:
(i) the Licensee's System Set-Up Costs shall not be recovered;
(ii) subject to sub-paragraph (iv), the Licensee's Additional Conveyance Costs with respect to Geographic Portability incurred after 31 October 1997 shall not be recovered by way of a charge determined under this Condition, provided that until that date the Licensee may by means of a Standard Portability Charge, recover an amount representing half the difference between -
(aa) its Additional Conveyance Costs during the period between commencing the provision of Portability and 31 October 1997; and
(bb) such Additional Conveyance Costs as the Director determines that it would have incurred if Call Drop-Back had been in operation for the whole of that period;
(iii) subject to sub-paragraph (iv), the Licensee's Additional Conveyance Costs with respect to Non-Geographic Portability of National Rate Numbers incurred after 30 June 1998 shall not be recovered by way of a charge determined under this condition and the Licensee's Additional Conveyance Costs with respect to Non-Geographic Portability of Premium Rate Numbers incurred after 31 December 1998 shall not be recovered by way of a charge determined under this condition, provided that until each such date the Licensee may by means of a Standard Portability Charge, recover an amount representing half the difference between -
(aa) its Additional Conveyance Costs with respect to Non-Geographic Portability during the period between commencing the provision of Non-Geographic Portability and 30 June 1998 (in the case of National Rate Numbers) and 31 December 1998 (in the case of Premium Rate Numbers); and
(bb) in each case, such Additional Conveyance Costs as the Director determines that it would have incurred if Non-Geographic Call Drop-Back had been in operation for the whole of that period;
(iv) any Additional Conveyance Costs other than the amount recoverable by virtue of sub-paragraphs (ii) and (iii) above shall be treated in the same manner as costs recoverable by charges for interconnection made under any agreement made in accordance with Condition 13 of this Licence.
(d) The following provisions shall also apply with respect to any determination made under sub-paragraph (a):
(i) the Director may determine that a cost is not reasonable if he considers that the Licensee could at the relevant time have used lower cost methods in implementing the relevant aspect of Portability and in that event the Director may disallow the item of cost in question in whole or in part as appropriate;
(ii) in respect of any individual item of cost the Director may determine into which category of cost it falls, and if he considers that any such item of cost cannot reasonably be categorised as System Set-Up Costs, Per Line Set-Up Costs, Administrative Costs or Additional Conveyance Costs, the Director may determine whether and to what extent the Licensee may reasonably recover such costs;
(iii) in the event that, in making any determination under sub-paragraph (a), the Director considers that the cost basis of any Standard Portability Charge in any preceding period has been inaccurately estimated, he shall make such adjustment to such Charge determined by him as he considers is appropriate for rectifying the matter.
34C.6 Before making any determination under paragraph 34C.4 or 34C.5, the Director shall consult with the Licensee, the relevant Qualifying Operator and Interested Parties and take into account any representations made by them.
34C.7 If requested in writing by the Director, the Licensee shall provide to the Director a record of each Number in relation to which it is providing Portability, specifying the relevant Qualifying Operator in each case.
34C.8 For the purposes of this Condition:
"Additional Conveyance Costs" means any costs associated with resources used in
(a) effecting the switch-processing required to set up each ported call, and
(b) providing the switch and transmission capacity [deleted 'whether in the trunk or local exchange'] for any part of the duration of each ported call
additional to the costs of conveyance of non-ported calls from the Applicable Systems to the Operator's system;
"Administrative Costs" means those costs, similar in nature to Per Line Set Up Costs, which are incurred by the Licensee when a Customer, retaining a Number allocated by the Licensee, moves from one location to another, whether at the same time as that Customer takes a Directly Provided Telecommunication Service from a Qualifying Operator or thereafter;
"Call Drop-Back" means the process whereby signals passing between the Licensee's local exchange serving the Porting Customer and the Licensee's trunk exchange enable Messages conveyed by the Applicable Systems to be routed to the system of the relevant Qualifying Operator and thence to the Porting Customer's system, releasing the call path between the local and trunk exchanges once signalling is completed;
"Functional Specification" means a document published from time to time by the Director following consultation with the Licensee and Interested Parties which specifies technical and other principles which are intended to enable the efficient implementation and utilisation of Portability;
"Geographic Portability" means Portability relating to Numbers allocated in accordance with the rules for the allocation of Area Numbering Ranges as provided for in the National Numbering Conventions;
"Interested Parties" has the same meaning as in Condition 16B;
"National Rate Number" means, where the Operator is the person providing telecommunication services to the calling party, a Number which may be called from anywhere in the United Kingdom and charged by the Operator at its standard rate for a national call;
"Non-Geographic Call Drop-Back" means the process, in providing Non-Geographic Portability, whereby signals passing between the Licensee's trunk exchange and its Relevant IN Platform enable Messages conveyed by the Applicable Systems to be routed to the system of the relevant Qualifying Operator and thence to the Porting Customer's system, releasing the call path between the trunk exchange and the Relevant IN Platform once signalling is completed;
"Non-Geographic Portability" means Portability relating to Numbers allocated in accordance with the rules for the allocation of Numbering Ranges other than Area Numbering Ranges as provided for in the National Numbering Conventions;
"Non-Geographic Number" means a Number allocated in accordance with the rules for the allocation of Numbering Ranges other than Area Numbering Ranges as provided for in the National Numbering Conventions;
"Number" has the same meaning as in Condition 34B;
"Operator" means any person authorised to provide telecommunication services, not being prohibited from receiving any financial benefit from such provision, and obliged, by virtue of provisions in the licence authorising provision of such services, to adopt a Numbering Plan for such Numbers as may have been allocated by the Director to that person in accordance with the National Numbering Conventions ;
"Per Line Set-Up Costs" means the costs of the Licensee in providing switching and administration with respect to each Number ported;
"Premium Rate Number" means, where the Operator is the person providing telecommunication services to the calling party, a Number which may be called from anywhere in the United Kingdom and charged by the Operator at a rate higher than the Operator's standard national rate, in consideration of any information or entertainment content element;
"Portability" means a facility which may be provided by the Licensee and by any Qualifying Operator (as the case may be) to each other thereby enabling any person to whom a Number has been allocated (whether by the Licensee, any Qualifying Operator or any Service Provider) to continue to be provided with any telecommunication service by reference to the same Number irrespective of the identity of the person providing such service;
"Relevant IN Platform" means the intelligent network platform within the Applicable Systems which is capable of ensuring that a Message to a Non-Geographic Number may be correctly delivered;
"Service Provider" means any person providing a service for reward to the public which is delivered entirely by means of a telecommunication system;
"Standard Portability Charges" means the charges payable to the Licensee by each Qualifying Operator for the provision of Portability to it by the Licensee, each such Operator paying the same charge as determined by the Director under this Condition with respect to each category of cost;
"System Set-Up Costs" means costs of the Licensee incurred -
(i) in the course of making network and system modifications, configurations or reconfigurations, including adapting or replacing software;
(ii) in the course of testing functionality within the Applicable Systems and in conjunction with any Qualifying Operator's systems
anywhere within the Licensed Area thereby establishing the technical and administrative capability to provide Portability."
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34C.1 (a) If directed to do so by the Director, the Licensee shall provide Portability from the date specified in such direction to any Qualifying Operator in accordance with the Functional Specification and with the following provisions.
(b) "Qualifying Operator" means an Operator which has notified the Licensee in writing that throughout an area which is specified in such notification and is within the licensed area referred to in its licence granted under section 7 of the Act, it is able and willing to provide on reasonable terms Reciprocal Portability in conformity with the Functional Specification, and wishes the Licensee to provide Portability throughout the same specified area.
(c) The Licensee or the Operator may refer in writing to the Director for his determination any question as to the reasonableness of -
(i) the extent of the area notified in accordance with sub- paragraph (b);
(ii) the terms upon which an Operator is prepared to offer Reciprocal Portability
provided that no application shall be made under this sub-paragraph with respect to charges otherwise determinable by the Director under the provisions of this Condition.
34C.2 (a) Having given a direction under paragraph 34C.1, the Director may determine, subject to the following provisions, the reasonable costs of the Licensee in providing Portability and the Standard Portability Charges, allowing the recovery of such costs, to be paid by each Qualifying Operator -
(i) in relation to the period from the date specified in accordance with paragraph 34C.1 to 31 March 1997;
(ii) annually thereafter in relation to each financial year ending on 31 March.
(b) Any determination of costs made under sub-paragraph (a) shall:
(i) be based upon the Licensee's fully allocated costs of providing Portability, calculated on the basis of information provided by the Licensee to the Director by virtue of its obligations under Condition 13 and related provi