This home page was last updated on 15th October 2003

Latest News:

• Final Statement on General Conditions of Entitlement - 9^th July 2003, Metering & Billing Condition II refers [Click here].
  
  
• Service Providers what does this news item mean to you?
  General Conditions of Entitlement - Provisions on Metering and Billing [click here] for further information.

• The New Regulatory Framework - what does it mean for your Metering and Billing systems from the 25^th July 2003?
  Go to http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/licensing/2003/billdirec0303.htm to find out.
  
  
• The inaugural Oftel Metering & Billing Systems Approval Scheme Annual Open Forum took place on 24^th March 2003. Click here to read about what happened and view the presentation slides.
  

The Metering and Billing Scheme from 25th July 2003

The Communications Act received Royal Assent on 17th July 2003. In advance of Royal Assent, the DTI consulted on the Orders and Regulations that were needed to implement the EC Directives on the Electronic Communications Networks and Services by 25th July 2003. The Commencement Order was made on 17th July 2003. The provisions in Parts 1, 2, 5 and 6 of the Bill that relate to the four EC Communications Directives were brought into force on 25th July 2003.

The General Conditions of Entitlement are intended to apply to all communications providers, or to identified classes of communications provider. Specific conditions will be imposed on individual communications providers, for example as a result of a finding of significant market power or designation as a universal service provider.

General Conditions of Entitlement Condition 11 (Metering and Billing) applies to all providers of Publicly Available Telephone Service with a United Kingdom turnover in excess of £40 million.

Note #1: Publicly Available Telephone Service - means a service available to the public for originating and receiving national and international telephone calls and access to Emergency Organisations through a Telephone Number or Numbers in the National Telephone Numbering Plan or an international telephone numbering plan, and in addition may, where relevant, include one or more of the following services: the provision of operator assistance services, Directory Enquiry Facilities, Directories, provision of Public Pay Telephones, provision of service under special terms, provision of specific facilities for end-users with disabilities or with special social needs and/or the provision of non-geographic services.

Note #2: Oftel expects communications providers subject to this obligation to co-operate with approval bodies after the application has been made so as to gain approval as soon as possible.

The Oftel Metering and Billing Direction - 22nd July 2003

The document Annexed to the Statement issued by the Director General of Telecommunications [click here] is the Oftel Metering and Billing Direction (the "Direction" - [click here]), that has been published to accompany the General Conditions of Entitlement. The Direction is derived from the Oftel Metering and Billing Standard OTR 003:2001 which has been recast in a form consistent with the new regulatory framework. The Direction does not substantively change the Oftel Metering and Billing Standard OTR003: 2001. However it has been necessary to revise some of its terminology in order to align it with the concepts and terms brought into use by the new regulatory framework. The associated Scheme Guide [click here] which is currently subject to revision is available for download.

The Direction is the document referred to in General Condition 11 ('Metering and Billing') and contains the technical requirements that a Total Metering and Billing System must be compliant with in order to gain Approval.

This Statement was preceded by a consultation on the Oftel Metering and Billing Direction published on 24 March 2003 (http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/licensing/2003/billdirec0303.htm). Chapter 2 of this Statement summarises and comments on the responses made to the consultation.

Three Approval Bodies administer the Scheme on behalf of Oftel, namely:

BABT - www.babt.com
Contact: Paul Ebling
Tel: 01932 251235
E-mail: paul.ebling@babt.com

BSI - www.bsi-global.com
Contact: Mike Inman
Tel: 01442 278589
E-mail: mike.inman@bsi-global.com

NQA - www.nqa.com
Contact: Jon Howell
Tel: 01582 539000
E-mail: jon.howell@nqa.com

The following documents have been adopted and issued by the Approval Body Forum for guidance. Their issue by an Approval Body is restricted to scheme members only.

• Guidance on Metering Test Sample & Selection - MABG1 issue 1
  
• Sample Guide Billing Model - MABG2 issue 1 ( to be used in conjunction with MABG1 issue 1)
  
• Small/Trivial Bills - MABG3 issue 1
• Billing Complaint Guide - MABG 4 Issue 1
• Tolerance Appointment by TMBS Function - MABG 5 Issue 1
  

The Scheme prior to 25th July 2003

Oftel operated a Metering Systems and Billing Systems Approval Scheme for Operators which was launched with the designation of OTR003: 2001, following a co-operative programme of work with the industry to review and revise the old scheme based on OTR003: 1993. The OTR003: 2001 scheme was available to all Operators, which term includes public telecommunications operators (PTOs) and providers of publicly available telecommunications services, such as service providers.

Operators migrating from OTR003: 1993 to OTR003: 2001 (from 25th July 2003 the Metering and Billing Direction are:

The following Determinations (under the Telecommunications Act 1984) have been made by the Director General Oftel:

28^th June 2002 - http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/licensing/2002/otr_det0602.htm

16^th September 2002 - http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/licensing/2002/otr0902.htm

19^th March 2003 - http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/licensing/2003/metbill0303.htm

Scheme Development

Only five PTOs held approvals under the OTR003: 1993 scheme, which was administered by BABT on behalf of Oftel and will continue thus for a transition period whilst existing approval holders migrate to the new Standard. A summary of that scheme can be found in the Oftel statement Ensuring Telephone Bills are Accurate dated February 2000 and can be found at http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/consumer/bill0200.htm#Annex%20A

The statement also set out Oftel's plans for the revision and extension of the OTR003: 1993 scheme to give greater confidence in the accuracy of telephone bills, whether they are for individual domestic customers, large corporations or consumers of intermediate size.

This homepage was originally set up to chart the progress of the co-operative programme of work that was set up between industry, other interested parties and the regulator towards developing and introducing a revised Metering and Billing Scheme. Following this work, Oftel published a consultation on the revised Standard for Metering Systems and Billing Systems, which was than refined and finalised into the OTR003: 2001 scheme. The consultation, notes of the industry meetings and copies of any associated slide presentations and documentation can be found on the links below.

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The Standard, 0TR003: 2001 with Designation No. Oftel/2001/1

Scheme Guide for OTR003:2001

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Consultation - OTR003: 2001

Responses to consultation

· BABT
· BSI
· BT
· BT Cellnet
· Cable & Wireless
· NIACT
· One-2-One
· Operators' Group (1)
· Operators' Group (2)
· Vodafone

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Meetings - Development of OTR003: 2001

• Summary of Approval Body Workshops March-June 2001
• Summary of Working Group meeting 12^th February 2001
• Summary of Working Group Meeting 15^th September 2000
• Summary of Working Group Meeting 26^th June 2000
• Notes of workshop 183^th April 2000

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Other Documents

Press release associated with the publication of the Standard and Scheme Guide - 9^th January 2002
Update statement - October 2001
An open letter to all industry participants in the Oftel metering and billing project   (,pdf file) - December 2000
Ensuring telephone bills are accurate - A statement on the review of the Oftel Meter Approval Scheme - February 2000

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For further information on metering and billing, please contact via e-mail to: bill.hawkins@ofcom.org.uk

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