Venue: Oftel, 50, Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7JJ
1st October 2003

1. Agreed Note Taker - John Gray (Yell)

2. Introductions
Attendance
Moira Black CCE
Alex Campbell (chair) Oftel
David Carver CMA
John Gray Yell
Michael Kalina Telegate
Alastair Robertson SACOT/CFB
Peter Sayers CFB/TAP
Bob Twitchin DIEL
Caroline Wallace Oftel
Ian Watson BT
Gwyneth Williams WACT


3. Minutes of previous meeting (7th July 2003)
Minutes of previous meeting were agreed and accepted.


4. Review of action points
Action 9.1 - discharged. B&I group to be reconvened soon.
Actions 9.2 & 9.3 - discharged. AC informed the group that the leaflet had not been changed, as the print run was already complete. However, the website has been updated in line with DQSP supplied information.
The consumer groups expressed concern regarding the length of the leaflet print run and that the leaflet would not be distributed to around one third of UK households. Oftel also understood that the leaflet was to be distributed with the phonebook for a full cycle, i.e. 100% of distribution coverage. The confusion may have arisen due to speculation during the original print runs that this cycle was to be reduced from 18 months to 12. Oftel would like all consumers receiving the phonebook to receive an information leaflet, so that they are informed about the choices available to them following deregulation.
IW (BT) confirmed that the cycle is still 18 months and that the fees paid by DQSPs were for a finite quantity, not for the total phonebook cycle. Additional money would be needed from the participating DQSPs to extend the run to cover all book areas.
New Action 10.1 - AC to check the understanding of the DQSPs regarding the extent of the leaflet distribution and to progress talks to extend the print run as appropriate.
AC wished to inform the consumer groups that a large-print version of the website information was available upon request for consumers with impaired vision.
IW (BT) said that it was possible for each DQSP to be included in the alphabetical listing in the white pages section of each phonebook, as well as the classified section. CW informed the group that the Spanish regulator (CMT) had insisted that all DQSPs were listed in an explanatory page in the front of the Spanish phonebook and Oftel might need to investigate this for the UK.
CW assured the group that there would be continuity during to transition to Ofcom, with all new teams being fully briefed during the handover.
Action 9.4 - ongoing. Some grammatical errors remained in August 2003 update. Additional time has been given to enable correction.
Action 9.5 - discharged. It was not possible to roll this specific research requirement into the main body of research. A separate piece of research would need to be commissioned if needed.
JG (Yell) informed the group that a Yellow Pages classified service was available free of charge via BT '195'. '195' customers need only give their PIN and ask for Yellow Pages to be connected. The BT staff will then connect the call to Yellow Pages.
Action 9.6 - discharged. No complaints have been received. This is now to be considered 'business as usual'.


5. Update on progress in the Industry groups
5.1 DQ Implementation Working Group (Oftel)
The latest meeting took place on 16/09/03, where the withdrawal of 192/153 on 24/08/03 was discussed. Although a couple of operational problems occurred, these were identified and resolved very quickly, causing minimal consumer disruption. No major problems on other service numbers such as 100 or 150 were reported by any NO.
The media coverage over the period was intense and largely negative. Oftel's approach was to try to communicate the facts and the positive benefits of liberalisation rather than tackling all the individual issues and allegations that arose. There was general agreement that the media coverage had been unhelpful for consumers in the details provided and the tone taken, however it was also recognised that the volume of coverage also ensured that consumers would be aware of the changes.

5.2 Phase II Billing
A meeting will be convened in the near future. There was nothing to report to the group.

6. Update on End of Parallel Run

6.1 DQ Call Volumes
BT has been providing invaluable data during the switchover period. Dialling statistics show that only around 30% of consumers were dialling 192/153 during the switch-off period. The rest were calling one of the new 118 numbers. These statistics do not include Centrex, CPS and transit calls made over the BT network.
The number of misdials is now down by 60% on the initial changeover volumes and is decreasing steadily.
There have been several reports in the press regarding the decline in calls to DQ services over the past 12 months. BT Retail will furnish Oftel with further data, which will be assessed for commercial sensitivity and a rebuttal press release issued if appropriate. It is however clear that there are several contributory factors to this decline, including the usual year on year decline in calls on BT Retail's network to DQ service. It was also noted that a lot of publicity had been given to free Internet services, and Oftel would be investigating with some of the big providers whether they had experienced a marked increase in visitors around the end of parallel running.
Oftel does not believe that the drop in call volumes is a key performance indicator to the success of the project, if for example more people used free Internet services as a result of the publicity than this was arguably a good thing for consumers. Aggregated 118 call volumes will be published in the quarterly update.
IW (BT) said that he was unable to give any indication regarding changes in numbers of subscribers wishing to be ex-directory, but that they were available on the BTW website. As this site creates session IDs when you go into it, it has not been possible to include the exact URL in the minutes. An up-to-date extract from the site is therefore pasted below:

:
* figures extracted from OSIS 01.10.03
IW (BT) assured the consumer groups that information regarding other 118 providers' market share was withheld from BTDS by BTW. No specific data is available regarding the decline or otherwise of business generated DQ traffic following switch-off.
AC talked through the handout on the Summary of Complaints related to DQ since the 192 switch-off. The lowest volume of DQ calls in several years corresponded with the highest recorded number of complaints to Oftel about the service. However, the peak in complaints lasted only about 2-3 weeks and coincided with heavy media interest in the issue. About half the complaints related to the principle of liberalisation rather than specific complaints about the services. The level of complaints fell dramatically following switch-off and continues to decline steadily as consumers become more familiar with the change.
'Bill shock' complaints relating to cost should have almost completely gone within 3 months, as the current quarterly bill cycle draws to a close. There have been no complaints so far on the way that the 118 charges have been represented on the bill. It was noted that such complaints should be apparent almost immediately, as customers bill cycles are spread out and not loaded towards particular months. Phone box queries have been largely eradicated through the introduction of a 60ppm (so 30p for an average call) charge for the BT service.

2. Calls to 192/DAL (or alternative) Platform
Less than 10% of all DQ callers are using the freephone service. This is much lower than originally anticipated. The system is functioning properly and Oftel confirmed that it would run until 24/06/04 unless Ofcom were to consult on a change to this date.

3. Issues List Review
Issue 1 - Closed. Solution in place until June 2004, although this can be changed subject to public consultation by Ofcom.
Issue 5 - Closed. A BT DQ service would be available from BT payphones at 60ppm.
Issue 6 - Possible extension of the leaflet run to cover the full book cycle to be considered.
Issue 8 - Closed. Latest results of consumer market research will be available and circulated in November.

4. Any Other Business
AC informed the group that the tariff band changes consultation document, published by ICSTIS, do not apply to DQ.
Oftel's CRS is now registering disability-related issues separately for 118/195/Textphone services, where the issue is specific to that service.
Senior management from The Number 118118 has been asked to attend a meeting at Oftel to answer the charges/allegations made recently by the Mail on Sunday. (Post meeting note: At this meeting, The Number explained to Oftel the systems and processes it has in place to ensure the accuracy of its service. It also explained that its bonus arrangements for staff are based on quality of service (including accuracy) and attendance, not just on the time taken to deal with the call. Employees are unable to receive any bonus unless quality and attendance targets have both been met. The Number offered to share the results of its ongoing independent research into the quality of its service with Oftel. Oftel also announced its intention (with ICSTIS) to carry out its own mystery shopping of all the main DQ services and publish the results.)
AR noted that he had, in the past, sat in with DQ call centre staff and had been impressed by the skill with which agents were able to find data. It was suggested that being a DQ operator required a great deal of skill with some time needed before expert standards were attained. It was noted that a minimum service threshold could be included in ICSTIS guidelines to prevent incidences such as this occurring in the future. An opportunity to present this viewpoint will be available at the forthcoming ICSTIS DQ Guideline Review Meeting, taking place on 01/12/03 (venue tbc). ICSTIS are performing regular mystery shopper exercises and informing DQSPs of where their services need to improve or risk breach of the ICSTIS Code.
Concern was expressed regarding the continued use of electoral roll data by some DQSPs. Oftel is pursuing this matter. Although this data has always been publicly available, some consumer groups felt that modern technology made the nature of the service 'immoral' even if it wasn't illegal and the current rules regarding the data usage were established long before the technology existed. It was noted that electors are able to opt-out of electronic versions of the electoral roll when registering to vote.
Two consumer groups also felt that the accuracy of some classified data currently being used by some DQSPs was questionable - particularly where the data was extracted from the Companies House or Dun and Bradstreet databases. Companies have complained that they have been wrongly classified or misrepresented by the information given out. BT, 118866 and Yell (the only DQSPs present) assured the groups that only verified data was used for each of their services and that companies could ring to correct data that they felt was incorrect. Other DQSPs may have different procedures.
AC reminded everyone that the current ICSTIS guidelines state that any caller who has been given a wrong number (where the number is otherwise available on the database and sufficient information has been given) and requests a refund is entitled to one. IW wished to add that every operator endeavours to provide the correct number, but it was often the confused way that the customer asked that led to an incorrect number being given. Refunds should not be given if the customer is unable to give enough information about the number sought. Refund procedures would be covered at the DQ workshop planned for 1/12/03.
Oftel said that work was underway to include mobile phone listings in the DQ database and that this would be communicated once agreement had been reached between the mobile operators.
Owing to problems with the 'unusual' spelling of some business names such as 'Akorn', some companies have complained to Oftel that their listings are not being found. Oftel reminded the consumer groups that a cross-reference/dual listing service is available (from a customer's network operator), so that the same listing can be added in several places in the database to ensure that it's not missed. A number of the consumer reps commented that this was a very useful service which they would communicate to their members.
IW mentioned the continued problems with access from some networks. The main problems arise with ntl, Telewest and Cable & Wireless, who have still not opened BT 118 numbers on their networks. Oftel noted that it had not received a formal complaint to date on this issue. Oftel also noted that several DQSPs had been successful in commercial negotiations with these operators in order to have their DQ services opened on these networks.

5. Going Forward
The consumer groups felt that the minutes circulated from the industry groups helped their understanding of the issues considerably. They felt however that if initial briefing sessions had taken place in advance of the first consumer group meeting to bring them up to speed more quickly that this would have been beneficial. They also felt that attendance of industry conferences had been extremely useful and asked if Oftel/Ofcom would continue to support their attendance of these conferences in the future.
Oftel felt that the consumer groups had made an invaluable contribution to the success of the DQ changeover and this should be recognised. For example, bringing down the charges for payphone services, work on the consumer information leaflets, Oftel Consumer Guide and website design as well as ensuring as smooth a transition as possible for the groups they represent.
It was felt that Oftel could give positive feedback to the consumer groups more often.
This would be the last DQ Consumer Group meeting under the auspices of Oftel. Invitations to the ICSTIS meeting on 01/12/03 will follow in due course. Representatives of consumer groups would be welcome at this workshop.

6. Summary of action points