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BT has specific
licence obligations (please see below) with
regards to the way it prices products for different groups of consumers.
In order to provide clarity for BT, its competitors and consumers
in general that those licence obligations are being met, Oftel has
agreed to list independently those eligible centres who qualify
for BT’s ‘LearningStream’ and ‘Public Institutions Internet Caller’
(PIIC) products on the website. If you have any queries regarding
Oftel listing the eligible Learning Centres, please contact Alex
Campbell at Oftel (see contact details below).
The following
list details those Learning Centres that have confirmed they meet
the defined criteria for BT’s LearningStream and Public Institutions
Internet Caller products.
Please
click here to download an html file containing the list.
Similar services
are available from other providers, however, they are not currently
subject to the same obligations as BT. Therefore, it is not necessary
to publish a similar list on the Oftel website. You should investigate
all options to see who best suits your organisation’s needs.
The criteria
set by BT for Learning Centres is as follows:
"Qualifying
centres are University for Industry learning centres based in
not for profit public, community centres, or charity owned premises
and learning centres in receipt of Capital Modernisation Funds."
If you believe
your Learning Centre meets the criteria listed above and you wish
to be listed, or for further information on eligibility please
contact Alex Campbell by email (alex.campbell@oftel.gov.uk)
or 020 7634 8970.
Specific
BT licence obligations
Telecommunications
operators other than BT (and in Hull, Kingston) are able to offer
special tariffs to any public institution (or indeed, any customer)
as they are not subject to specific rules constraining their prices.
Tariff offerings by BT are subject to the rules laid out in its
licence to ensure that they are not anti-competitive. BT is subject
to an obligation, amongst others, not to unduly discriminate in
favour or against one class or group of customers compared to another
class or group. Due to BT's strong market position, it would potentially
be possible for BT to offer tariffs that would exclude other operators
and independent service providers from this market. This would not
be in the interests of the eligible institutions. Oftel is satisfied
that, at present, BT's pricing arrangements with regards to these
products is not to the detriment of other, non-qualifying consumers.
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