OPERATOR POLICY FORUM:

19 October 2000

Contents:

1. Agenda for the meeting.

2. Minutes of the meeting.

3. Action Points from the meeting.

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1.    Agenda

Item    -    Presented by:  (Oftel unless otherwise stated)

1. Introduction and Action Points - Chris Kenny

2. Business & Residential Research on Unmetered Internet Access and Use of Digital TV - Karen Metcalfe

3. Internet Market Review - Dave Simpson

4. Pay for Product - Adam Maxted (Pay for Product Committee)

5. Local Loop Unbundling update - Trevor Wood & John Russell

6. Focus Group updates:

• NTS - Geoff Brighton
• Geographic & Non-Geographic Number Portability - Lesley Bulman (NTL)
• Mobile Number Portability - To be Confirmed
• Personal Number Portability - Jacqui Simpson (Redstone)
• CPS - Karen Hardy (Energis)
• ICPS - John Naughten (Viatel)

7. Forthcoming and Recent Oftel Publications - Chris Kenny

8. AOB

2.    Minutes

Agenda Item 1 - Introduction and Action Points

Neil Buckley referred to two action points from the last OPF.

AP 9/1 Operators should provide comments on Oftel's proposal to exclude unmetered Internet access calls from the CPS 'All Calls' option.

Discharged. Caroline Wallace said that no comments received from Forum. Now subsumed by consultation

AP 9/2 Comments on the decision to amalgamate Non Geographic Number Portability and Geographic Number Portability Focus Groups.

Discharged. Neil Buckley said that no comments had been received and therefore the amalgamation of Non Geographic Portability and Geographic Number Portability Focus Groups was accepted.

Agenda Item 2 - Business & Residential Research on Unmetered Internet Access and use of Digital TV

Karen Metcalfe explained about the type of market research Oftel undertakes and why it is undertaken. She also explained about the key findings from August / September residential surveys and gave details of forthcoming Oftel research publications.

Karen asked operators for comments on whether the findings from the August and September survey reflected operators' own surveys. She also said that Oftel is interested in robust, independently conducted research, which has been commissioned by operators or other consumer bodies to instigate debate on policy. Oftel welcomes the publishing on the Internet of such information to improve the basis for policy debates and decisions in telecommunications. AP 10/1

Karen circulated a handout for this presentation.

Agenda Item 3 - Internet Market Review

For the slides used in this presentation click here.

Dave Simpson (Oftel) explained that the Internet Market Review plays an important role in achieving Oftel's aim to get the best deal for telecoms consumers by identifying whether there is effective competition in Internet access.

Internet Market Review focuses on dial-up access over the PSTN. The impact of broadband on the market will be explored, but it is dial-up that the review will investigate in great detail. The review will cover both residential and business usage.

Effective competition in the dial up Internet market will be measured in three market segments. These are call origination, call termination and Internet Service Provision.

Oftel has a number of internal and external sources from which to obtain information. He added that the more information that is gathered would enable more proper reasoned arguments.

Oftel's internal sources of information that will feed into the review include quarterly market information; market research; and the international benchmarking study.

To improve existing estimates, Oftel is meeting with major originating operators and terminating operators to discuss the sorts of data that is available for this review. Operators wishing to meet with Oftel can contact david.simpson@oftel.gov.uk or lucy.rhodes@oftel.gov.uk. Oftel is also talking to the Office of the e-Envoy and ONS about Government initiatives to improve information availability on the Internet market. AP 10/2

Dave Simpson said that there might be difficulty obtaining information from ISPs as Oftel does not have any direct authority to require ISPs to impart the kind of market information needed. However, Oftel is currently in discussions with ISPs about this.

A 'kick off' statement will be published on Oftel Internet Forum web site in October. Oftel plans to collect information from internal and external sources during October and issue a consultation document in December this year. A final statement, following a three month consultation period to allow time for Consumer Groups to respond, will be issued in May 2001.

Agenda Item 4 - Pay for Product

For the slides used in this presentation click here.

Adam Maxted (Chairman of the Pay for Product Committee) explained that Pay for Product (PfP) is the premium rate telephone billing mechanism that can be used to purchase a product over the telephone. He said that PfP, which works over both voice and data lines would be attractive as a new billing option.

On charging for Pay for Product he said that both ICSTIS and the PfP Committee preferred a 'single drop tariff' to long duration PfP calls and that work is being done to end long duration calls for PfP services.

It was explained that the key PfP issues are split between the PfP Committee, the ICSTIS Working Party and the Network PfP Working Party. The key PfP issues include the legal relationships between Networks and PfP service providers, consumer protection, bad debts and fraud issues. On legal relationships it was explained that ICSTIS had sought Queen Counsel’s advice in 1997 on the legal relationship between network operators, service providers and the customers for those services. Counsel’s Opinion confirmed that a contract does exist between the telephone subscriber and the service provider and not with the network operator, who merely acts as a billing agent. Network operators would not therefore be liable if products purchased were not acceptable.

The proposed key consumer protection features included compliance with the Distance Selling Directive, compliance with ICSTIS Guidelines on Pay for Product services and ICSTIS Code of Practice. There would also be a requirement on service providers to fulfil an order within 30 days, specific provisions would be required for children's services, service providers would require prior permission from ICSTIS to provide PfP service and all calls would be recorded and records kept for 12 months. There is also a proposal for all PfP services to have a 'single drop tariff' behind the 0907 number range. It was stated that some PfP services are currently behind other 09 ranges.

The consumer protection proposals would impact on the service providers. As well as transparency of service providers, they would require the capability to record calls and to maintain a database of customers' orders. Also CLI monitoring at the service provider level would be required.

Adam Maxted said that it was important for BT to obtain commitment from BT on PfP but he expressed concern at what he sees as BT's apparent lack of co-operation. He said that, for example, revenue sharing issues discussed at Nemesis meetings had not been taken forward by BT (Nemesis, whose membership is principally made up of interconnect networks, meets to discuss new products and interconnect issue).

In a response to a question from the floor, Adam Maxted said that there was no research on consumer demand for PfP but added that he was in contact with media groups such as the BBC who are keen on a Pay for Product service.

In a response to a question from the floor Adam Maxted said that there is evidence that BT is in favour of PfP and that they consider it to be commercially viable. He said that BT has also carried out its own internal research on PfP. A representative from BT added that BT will co-operate on PfP.

In a response to a question from the floor Adam Maxted said that there was currently a reluctance to put numbers on market sizing but more research should be carried out by PfP Committee and putting numbers to market sizing should be raised at the next Committee meeting.

Warwick Izzard (Oftel) said that Oftel had not had yet had sight of the ICSTIS PfP guidelines and that Oftel would be very interested to see the consumer protection developments. He also added that Oftel was certainly unaware that some PfP services were being provided behind the 09 number range other than 0907. He pointed out that the use of such numbers was in contravention of the Numbering Conventions.

Chris Kenny invited Adam Maxted to return to the OPF in 6 months time to provide an update on developments.

Agenda Item 5 - Local Loop Unbundling Update

For the slides used in this presentation click here.

Trevor Wood explained that BT’s obligations in respect of unbundled local loops, collocation and other associated services and facilities are set out in a new condition of its licence. Condition 83 came into force on 8 August 2000.

He explained that the Commercial sub-Group of the Option 2 Implementation Task Group, established by mutual agreement between BT and the OPF, developed the 'Bow Wave Process'

He said that an Oftel Consultation Document, Consultation on Local Loop Unbundling ‘Bow Wave Process, was published on 11 October. This consultation document presents Oftel’s initial recommendations on two of the most substantial current issues relating to the Bow-Wave Process and resolves the problem of the space allocation process in BT's exchanges. The two issues are:

• The method to be employed for allocating co-location space in BT’s exchanges during the initial phases of LLU implementation.
• The terms of the Code of Conduct which governs the application of the ‘Bow Wave Process’.

He said that the Bow Wave Process Consultation Document also contains an indicative timetable for Local Loop Unbundling. Responses to the document were required by 8 November and the new agreed procedure would be used in the next round of the Bow Wave Process.

It was explained that the first round of the ‘Bow Wave Process’ was run on 12 September 2000 and as a result of the first round, Oftel selected 361 sites for which BT would be asked to prepare initial surveys. Operators were asked to submit requests for BT to carry out the site surveys in phased tranches to ascertain the amount of co-location space available. He added that Oftel would use an inspection team to independently verify any claim from BT that there is insufficient space in an exchange.

As at 16 October initial surveys of 229 of the 361 sites had been completed. Once completed the results of the initial surveys would be made available to the relevant operators. The full surveys were expected to start at the end of October.

Local Loop Unbundling indicative timetable key dates are:

• Dec 2000 Operators submit second set of bids for allocation under new procedures. Highest priority sites will be surveyed and allocated depending on space availability.
• Jan 2001 BT hands over first sites prepared for co-location.
• July 2001 BT’s systems, for example for dealing with collocation orders and provisioning of loops, should be running at full capacity.

Trevor also mentioned two related publications due for publication. Indicative pricing document for unbundled loops will be published at the beginning of November and the shared access to the local loop consultation document will be published at the end of October.

Chris Kenny asked the Forum to consider if there should be regular updates on LLU.

Agenda Item 6 - Focus Group Updates

NTS

Paul Lonsdale reported that NTS focus Group has not met since last OPF. (Friaco and other NTS determination requests had taken priority). It was hoped that a focus group meeting would be held possibly around the end of October.

Geographic & Non Geographic Number Portability

Lesley Bulman (NTL) reported for GNGNP Focus Group.

Chair of Combined Group

Kieran MacDermott has volunteered to chair the joint group on a temporary basis but a permanent chair will be needed soon.

Transit Product

BT propose that traffic is measured at a single point i.e. at incoming interconnect and that chargeband is allocated on the basis of the chargeband flag rather than digit analysis. Any objections to this to reach Paul Hanson by 20/10/00.

Very few forecasts for use of the transit product have been received. This means that transit development is taking a lower priority than other products. ALL operators intending to use transit should submit forecasts to BT ASAP. AP 10/3

Pre-allocation Porting

This is progressing but more slowly than operators would wish. Additional resource is required to improve this. Relationship of this focus group and PNO-IG Task Group needs to be further refined.

Network Routing

Options are being examined for technical feasibility by PNO-IG but there are a number of commercial issues which are due for discussion at the next meeting.

Process Group

Re-written manuals are expected to be approved and uploaded to the Oftel web-site within the month

Operators agreed that e-mail order handling should be set up with fax as a fall back.

Third Party Obligations

Letter from Oftel has been noted. Some operators are seeking further legal advice.

Mobile Number Portability

For the slides used in this presentation click here.

Peter Roberts (Orange) reported on behalf of the Mobile Number Portability Focus Group.

New structure for next phase delivery

The new structure includes an MNP2 project board comprising of the four mobile network operators. An Operational Review Group will review existing operations for mobile number portability

Current project status

The Contractual Procurement Group (CPG)is currently in negotiations with the vendor for the development of the web system on behalf of all four operators. A decision is on this is imminent with a target delivery of the web system within 2001 Q1. The launch of the project is dependent on the vendor Memorandum of Understanding / vendor contract for product delivery date of the next phase

Update on porting charge

The second stage is due of the two-stage review on the charges made by Independent Service providers for porting out mobile numbers. It is likely that there will be a further review as part of MNP2.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Mobile Number Portability Focus Group will take place on 1 November.

Personal Number Portability

Jacqui Simpson (Redstone) reported on behalf of the Personal Number Portability Focus Group

The last meeting of the PNP Group was held on 4/10/00

Subsequent Porting

A section on subsequent porting will be added to the PNP manual. The process will be similar to that used for NGNP.

Pre-Allocation Porting

The current PNP manual does not cater for pre-allocation porting. It was agreed that it would not be implemented at this time and would therefore continue to be excluded from the PNP manual.

Merger of the PNP Group with the newly merged GNP and NGNP Group

The potential similarity of interests between PNP and the NGNP processes was suggested as a reason to consider merging the groups. It was noted that regardless of whether the groups merged, the process manuals should remain separate.

The group agreed that as many people attending NGNP meetings did not have personal numbers or an interest in personal numbering issues, PNP could more effectively be dealt with by a smaller group of interested operators. It was therefore agreed that it would be better to keep the PNP group separate and for it to meet on an ad hoc basis when matters arose.

CPS

Karen Hardy (Energis) reported on behalf of the CPS Policy Focus Group.

The launch date for CPS Phase 1 is scheduled for 12 December 2000, although there were key issues still to be resolved.

The review and update of the industry End to End Process Manual was still ongoing.

A new sub-group of the Process Group had been formed – the Process Improvement Group. The purpose of this group is to look at existing processes with a view to improving them for the benefit of customers and operators. The first meeting is scheduled for 8 Nov following the Process meeting.

The Albera Consultants report, entitled Review of BT’s Costs for Implementing and Maintaining Permanent Carrier Pre-Selection is available on Oftel’s web site, in conjunction with the Oftel consultation Notice of a Proposed Determination. There would be a collective operator response to the consultation.

On the proposed determination Chris Kenny said that there is a quite complex consultation process and it was important that the timescale was adhered to. He also added that a determination would only be imposed in the light of the outcome of consultation if the parties involved do not reach a commercial agreement.

ICPS

John Naughten (Viatel) reported on behalf of the ICPS Policy Focus Group

The next meeting of the ICPS Implementation Group meeting will be hosted by Viatel and will take place on 18 November. The implementation Group was moving to monthly meetings.

ICPS developments since the previous OPF:

Determination

Deadline for responses to Draft Re Determination on costs and charges for Interim Carrier Pre-selection had passed and a new Re Determination would be issued soon.

Functional Specification/Autodiallers

Oftel will be publishing a paper for consultation on the Functional Specification for Carrier Pre-Selection using Autodiallers and the Technical Specification of Diallers for Inclusion in ICPS.

Any changes to the Functional Specification would not be retrospective and any diallers must conform to the specification in force at the time of installation/migration to be eligible for cost recovery.

ICPS and Unmetered Internet Access

It has been confirmed that SurfTime and FRIACO calls will also be excluded from ICPS as well as CPS 'All Calls Option'.

File Transfer

BT requires a commitment from OLOs in the form of the lump sum payment of £10,000 for cost recovery before it will go ahead with the development of the File Transfer system.

Once OLO's had made a commitment the development of the File Transfer system there would be a lead-time of approximately 12-13 weeks – 8 weeks development time and 3 weeks of trials. As yet there is no triallist for the FTP Platform.

Agenda Item 7 - Publications

Chris Kenny said that the following Oftel publications are due for publication prior to the next OPF:

Price Control Review (consultation document)

Directory Enquiries Access Codes (consultation document)

LLU Indicative Pricing Document

Developing Number Administration (consultation document)

Calls to Mobiles (consultation document)

Shared Access to the Local Loop (consultation document)

He also mentioned that the Joint DTI/DCMS Communications White Paper is due for publication during the second half on November.

Agenda Item 8 - AOB

Chris Kenny said that Oftel is currently giving some thought to stakeholder contact and asked the Forum for views on the format, nature and frequency of future OPF meetings and whether there should be wider consultation with the industry about the agenda for each meeting. The forum was asked to report back ideas at the next OPF on 14 December. AP 10/4

Rob Borthwick (Vodafone) enquired where proposals on BT’s retention for fixed to mobile calls would be published. He was advised that the proposals will be included in the Price Control Review consultation document.

3.   Action Points