In attendance

Professor Mike Tedd (Chair)
Richard Edwards
Ian Lebbon
Jon Simonds
Gwyneth Williams
Pamela Blackwell (Consultant WACT)
Katherine Gwynne (Secretary)
Owen Evans (BT)
Delyth Davies (Admin)

Apologies

Apologies were received from Karen Counsell, Dilwyn Evans and Linda Tomos.

Minutes of previous WACT meeting

The minutes of the WACT meeting on 13 March 2003 were accepted as accurate and approved. The action points had all been responded to.

Matters arising

The Chair extended a warm welcome to the visiting ACT Secretaries, ahead of their meeting tomorrow.

Neil Paterson is due to attend WACT's next meeting on September 11th, to enable WACT to monitor the development of Oftel's Welsh Language Scheme.

Chairman's Report

The ACT chairmen recently had a meeting with Peter Waller, Oftel's Deputy Director General of Telecommunications, to discuss concerns about directory enquiries and codes of practice. Companies are obliged to have codes approved by Oftel, but the ways of seeking approval are not as well publicised as they should be. All public communication networks, not just the large companies, need to establish codes of practice, as they may be challenged by the regulator at a later date.

The 3.4GHz licence auction has started, the Chair reported, with all licences being sold, and one company (PoundRadio, a company set up by PCCW, the company that owns Hong Kong Telecom) is bidding for most of them. Of concern to WACT is whether PoundRadio would prioritise urban areas in favour of the rural areas.

The Chair formally congratulated Sue Balsom on her appointment to Ofcom's content board, in a role which will see her representing the needs of Wales.

The Chair invited Richard Edwards and Gwyneth Williams to report on the forum and workshop respectively, that they attended on behalf of WACT. Richard Edwards thanked the committee for sending him to the last Oftel Forum, which he found useful and informative. There were approximately 25 people at the meeting, with presentations given on various issues including an update on the directory enquiry services. Richard distributed copies of each presentation to all WACT meeting attendees.

Gwyneth Williams attended Oftel's directory enquiries workshop on April 11, which she found clarified some of the proposed options. She added that awareness of the new service had increased to more than 60%. Richard Edwards replied that this figure was due in part to the huge advertising campaign in populous areas of the UK, especially London. Pamela Blackwell added that she had seen 118 numbers advertised during football matches in Wales, and Gwyneth felt that BT had done particularly well in advertising their Welsh language service.

The Chair added that Oftel had published its conclusions to the consultation, and the new document was better than the old one. After careful analysis of the advantages of the different options, the consultation paper concluded that Oftel's original option choice was justified. However, Oftel effectively ignored advice from consumer bodies, except for the issue of the length of time for which the 192 message should be played, which has been extended from 6 months to 10 months with the proviso that Oftel will monitor the effect and close the line down if is not being used.

Gwyneth added that many phone directories in homes have not been updated with the new numbers, but within 10 months most will have been replaced.

The Chair added that the option Oftel has selected as a message for 192 users still necessitates 3 telephone calls in order to gain a directory enquiry service. Jon Simonds enquired whether consumers would have to pay for the directory enquiry call from a public phone box to 192, even though they would not be provided with a service. The Chair replied that they would, noting that it was currently cheaper to call 192 from a public phone box than a private line, although no such provision appeared to have been made for the 118 numbers.

Richard Edwards felt that there should be notices in public phone boxes, displaying a list of alternative 118 numbers. The Chair replied that the phone boxes were BT's property and they could insist on advertising their own 118 number.

The Communications Bill

The Communications Bill is making good progress, with the second debate finished on 5 June. The report stage will start on Monday 23 June, to finish for 2 July to become law on 25 July. The debate in the 2nd reading in the lords was lengthy and interesting. The Lords made good speeches in favour of the amendments proposed by WACT. Richard Edwards added that a parliamentary reception was held in London last week, where he thanked the Lords for their support. Richard felt that a reminder letter at this stage, especially to those who we have been liaising with, would be effective at this time.
Action: WACT Secretary to write a reminder letter to Lords.

Secretary's Report

The Secretary reported that the responses to the consultation documents were in hand and that the ACT Secretaries meeting was scheduled for tomorrow in Aberystwyth. The Secretary asked the committee for their thoughts on what arrangements should be made for WACT's last meeting. Paul Rogers added that an all-ACT meeting, hosted by Oftel, was being planned towards the end of the year.

Complaints and Enquiries: Report by Alistair Cox

In Alistair's absence, the committee looked at the report. The consumers and issues category showed a slight decline in the number of complaints. The Chair noted that the market breakdown of complaints was interesting, showing that BT regularly received approximately 50% of complaints (due to having a large % of the marketplace). The breakdown of postcodes showed stability across all areas.

The complaint categories showed that the quality of customer service has been at the top of the chart for a few years. Repair service is equal to accounts contended as a source of complaints. The peak in repair service for November stands out dramatically. Ian Lebbon noted that the broadband category only begins in Feb 2003, and added that it would be better split into 2 categories: 'provision of service' and 'non-provision of service'. Gwyneth said that she was living in an enabled area, and had ordered broadband 3 months ago but it had not yet appeared.

However, the peak in complaints in November as regards the BT repair sub-categories stands out dramatically. In addition, the number of complaints about the repairs per line in Wales is double that of England. Richard Edwards noted that the BT complaints by post code do not include HR, and not all post codes are present.
Action: WACT secretary to liaise with Alistair Cox for updates on full post code breakdown.

Owen Evans commented that the general trend showed complaints against BT down 10%, which was very pleasing. The Chair reiterated that repair complaints and the peak in November were the 2 main conclusions to be drawn from the document. BT have promised to investigate the repair situation in Wales and report to WACT.
Action: Owen Evans.

Pamela Blackwell added that an increase in complaints is to be expected if the number of faults reported went up, effectively trebling the workload. The only solution would perhaps be to put the cables underground. Owen Evans explained that BT do actively work to keep lines maintained, for example by clearing trees, but the cost of putting all cables underground would make the cost of BT's services prohibitive.

Gwyneth reported that Scotland's increase in complaints during the winter months is largely due to storm damage, and arrangements are now in place to bring in staff from other parts of the country. Owen said that BT do have a policy of diverting the landline to a mobile in the case of a fault, and the number of engineers would of course be increased when needed for repairs.

Presentation by Owen Evans, Head of Broadband Policy and Strategy

Owen Evans gave a presentation on broadband developments in Wales, in which he highlighted the projects BT have been working on to further the reach of broadband in the community. The speed of the broadband rollouts has increased rapidly thanks to the registration scheme, which now totals 1 million broadband subscribers on ADSL.

The areas of low demand in Wales were targeted, and BT teamed up with local authorities to focus on demand stimulation. The Chair noted that the monthly growth rates are huge, up to 20% per month. Owen confirmed that 25 extra exchanges on-line this year will contribute to this growth. Demand for broadband in Cardiff is growing faster than in London, greater than expected.

However, better coordination is required, in order to create further demand. Gwyneth asked what % take-up (of people who had registered) there was on average, once a trigger level had been hit and broadband installed. Owen replied that the figure was usually between 60% and 70%.

As regards non-commercial projects, public funding will help to bridge the gap between demand and cost. BT is still required to do lots of marketing, and invest money in more equipment. Wales still has a long way to go, to be ahead of the game as regards broadband. Richard Edwards asked how we could help with this, and Owen advised that encouraging local communities and councils to get involved would be most helpful. Ian Lebbon enquired about the setting up of trigger levels, and what happens when they are reached. Owen replied that once a trigger level is set, it usually takes 2 to 3 months to be enabled, and as long as a trigger level has been reached, then broadband will be installed.

BT's most recent success story is definitely Caerphilly, with 85% of the local authority area now broadband enabled. Jon Simonds asked whether any loss of custom was expected in that area. Owen replied that once the consumer buys broadband, they are loath to be without it. Some housing firms are even building one year's broadband into the cost of new homes.

The Chair mentioned that Machynlleth is currently debating whether to press for a trigger level. Owen said that BT operates a scheme to encourage local campaigns if communities want broadband quickly. The Chair asked whether there was a specific route to take with BT in order to get a trigger level set. Owen advised that a request be sent to either himself or BT, and while there were no guarantees, all requests would be looked at.

BT are actively working to reduce costs and enable trigger levels to be set up for more of Wales. The on-line broadband subscription system uses post code identification to advise whether a consumer would be able to access broadband or not. The Chair added that the system was subtle and effective. The Chair mentioned that one of our old concerns now seems to be resolving itself; under the BT Together tariffs, the cost distinction between local and trunk calls is removed. The Chair congratulated BT on the initiatives taken in Wales and broadband.
Action: WACT Secretary to send the presentation to all members.

Consultation Documents

The Chair said that the majority of the responses to the consultation documents were in hand, and thanked all who contributed their comments.

Any Other Business

One other matter, raised by the Chair, was the issue of the tender for the mobile coverage research study. The Chair apologised for the delay in preparing the tender for research study, which he circulated, and invited members to send him their comments as soon as possible. Pamela Blackwell asked whether the study was going to take place on an all Wales basis. The Chair confirmed that we would be emphasising the study be carried out on a rural Wales basis. Ian Lebbon asked if the study would touch on non-Welsh based businesses. The Chair replied that we would need to look at this, and Pamela Blackwell added that many people work from home in England, yet travel within Wales. Gwyneth Williams added that there were also those people who came to Wales on holiday.

Owen Evans said that the wider picture could be more easily understood by looking at interconnections between networks. The Chair said that remedies for the problem included roaming, mast sharing, and public support for networks as in France. The aim of this study is to obtain the evidence, which can then be used to work out an appropriate solution. Owen added that the study would provide a picture of what is happening now, but it would also be beneficial to look at what non-availability of 3G is likely to cost. The Chair said that Lisa Etwell from Oftel had suggested that questions be added to identify how much business in Wales realised the potential of 3G.
Action: Members to contact the WACT Chair or Secretary with comments/improvements to the invitation to tender for the mobile telephony coverage study.

As a final point of business, Owen Evans said that they had started publishing Assembly briefings every few months.
Action: Owen to send updates to WACT Secretary when available, to be sent on to members.

Next Meetings

September 11th (if we still exist)
December 11th (if we still exist)

The meeting closed at 4.00pm.