Ref: 40/03
Date: 3 July 2003

Measures to continue the existing regulatory obligations on telecoms companies with market power until the introduction of regulation under the new EC Directives have been published today by Oftel.

The current regulatory licensing regime ends on 25 July, but until any necessary regulation can be put in place under the new EC Directives, existing obligations will be extended under a series of continuation notices.

The notices cover issues such as interconnection obligations, the current call termination charges on four of the mobile network operators and retail price controls on BT.

Other regulation that applies to all telecoms companies will be introduced under general authorisations, which replace general conditions contained in existing telecoms licences.

David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications said today:

"Although the current licensing regime ends on 25 July, regulation of operators with market power will not be finalised until later in the year, when the market review process is completed. It is therefore essential that Oftel extends the current regulatory obligations on these operators until the new regulations are introduced.

"The measures are specific to individual operators and cover the particular conditions that have been previously inserted into their licences to ensure that consumers are adequately protected.

"This includes the requirement on the four mobile network operators to reduce their call termination charges by 15 per cent and the retail price controls on BT's residential call prices.

"This interim regulatory regime will simply maintain the existing status quo until new regulations can be implemented under the EC Directives when Oftel has completed its reviews of the telecoms markets."

Oftel is currently consulting on the contents of the continuation notices. The deadline for responses is 14 July.

Notes to editors

1. Continuing licence conditions after 25 July is available on the Oftel website at www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/licensing/2003/cont0703.htm. Hard copies are available to the media from the press office on 020-7634 8991 and to the public from the Research and Information Unit on 020-7634 8761.

2. The power to introduce continuation notices is set out in the Communications Bill. If the Bill does not become an Act before 25 July, the notices will be implemented under the European Communities Act.

3. Oftel is carrying out a series of market reviews as part of its work to implement the new EC Electronic Communications Directives. Oftel assesses the level of competition in the markets and decides on the appropriate level of regulation to promote competition and protect consumers. Oftel has published market reviews on narrowband wholesale services, broadband wholesale services, retail markets, fixed geographic call termination, wholesale international services, unmetered Internet call termination, leased lines, the mobile call origination and mobile call termination markets.