Numbering Directive: Number Portability Requirements

Chapter 1

• Background
• What is Number Portability?
• Current Number Portability Arrangements
• What does the Directive mean to Customers?
• Scope of the Directive
• Types of Number Covered
• Timing
• Compliance
• Information to Customers

Through this document Oftel and the Department of Trade and Industry are carrying out a public consultation on the draft legislation (Regulations and licence modification) they consider necessary to implement the number portability requirements of Directive 98/61/EC, the Numbering Directive. The Numbering Directive amends Directive 97/33 EC (the Interconnection Directive).

The Numbering Directive requires that subscribers or customers should be able, if they wish, to keep their telephone numbers when they change the operator providing their fixed telecommunications services ie telephone services using geographic numbers (ordinary telephone numbers of subscribers at a fixed geographic location eg numbers beginning 01 or 02 and services using non geographic numbers eg freephone numbers (080), local and national rate numbers (0845 and 0870) premium rate numbers (090). Only those customers that remain at the same address will be able to change operator and keep their geographic number under this new portability regime. Mobile and paging numbers are not covered by the Directive. Numbers for mobile services are however, already portable between mobile operators in the United Kingdom.

Number portability for fixed services has been available in the United Kingdom for a number of years where telephone companies have chosen to provide it. The Numbering Directive allows customers taken on by telephone companies to require them to provide number portability.

In order to ensure subscribers or customers are able to keep their telephone numbers when they change telephone companies:

1. Any telephone company that decides to take on a new customer who wants to keep their existing telephone number must be able to make service available using the customer’s existing number.
2. All telephone companies providing fixed telecoms services to the public must be able to pass a customer’s existing number to a new operator or service provider at the customer’s request.

Where telephone companies have chosen to market or offer their services they must be able to provide number portability within the normal timesacle of providing a basic service to customers. In such circumstances operators and service providers must be able to provide number portability within 5-8 working days.

All telephone companies who provide fixed telephone services to the public must be able to provide the facility described above by 1 January 2000 at the latest. Telephone companies that operate under a Telecommunications Act licence will be in breach of their licence if they do not comply with the number portability requirements set out above. Other telephone companies i.e those not running a telecommunications system and therefore not licensed under the Telecommunications Act, will be liable to enforcement action through civil proceedings by the Director General of Telecommunications if they do not comply with the portability obligations set out in the implementing Regulations.

It will be for telephone companies to use their commercial judgement to decide whether to have a direct porting facility or connections with other telephone companies or alternatively to rely on another telephone company to transfer numbers using that company’s telecommunications network in order to provide number portability.

Comments are invited by Friday 19 November 1999 on the licence modification and draft Regulations set out in this document. There will be a further 2 week period during which comments on representations made during the first period of consultation are invited; this will end on Friday 3 December 1999. Oftel will copy all comments received to the DTI for joint consideration. In accordance with standard practice for implementing EU legislation views are also requested on the likely impact of the Regulations. Full details on the consultation arrangements can be found in Chapter 3.

1.1 Oftel and DTI are carrying out a public consultation on the draft legislation that they consider necessary to implement the number portability requirements in the Numbering Directive (98/61/EC). This document set out the draft legislation. The implementing legislation consists of draft Regulations to set out the Directive’s requirements in UK law and to ensure those operators that do not operate under a Telecommunications Act licence comply with the number portability requirements contained in the Directive. The implementing legislation also contains a modified licence condition to make the existing fixed number portability condition contained in telephone operators’ licences consistent with the Directive.

1.2 Number portability is a facility provided by telecommunications operators which enables customers to keep their telephone numbers when they change their operator.

1.3 Number portability is a key issue in the development of network competition. There is clear evidence that customers are reluctant to consider changing their network operator if it means that they have to change their phone number. Changing telephone numbers can be a major inconvenience for customers and a barrier which prevents them from exercising choice and taking advantage of growing competition in telecoms services. The absence of number portability therefore gives the incumbent network operator a significant competitive advantage.

1.4 A cost benefit analysis conducted by NERA on behalf of Oftel in 1993 calculated the net benefit to the UK economy of introducing geographic number portability at £1.4 billion over ten years. As well as substantial direct benefits (eg customers do not have to incur costs of changing stationery; fewer wrong numbers are dialled), portability provides very significant indirect benefits, assisting greatly in the creation of genuine competition for all categories of customers, driving down prices, encouraging innovation and raising quality.

1.5 The United Kingdom has been at the forefront of the provision of number portability. Operators began offering numbering portability for geographic services (ordinary telephone numbers of customers located at specific geographic locations) in 1996 and for other fixed services in 1997. Number portability for mobile services became available in January 1999.

1.6 Number portability is currently provided between operators on a reciprocal basis. Where operators have decided to provide number portability their customers can benefit from this arrangement. However operators are not currently required to provide number portability to their customers. The Numbering Directive changes this position to enable customers taken on by a new operator to require the operator to provide number portability. This requirement applies to numbers for fixed services only.

1.7 From 1 January 2000 all companies that provide fixed telecoms services cannot refuse to allow customers whom they take on after that date to keep their existing telephone number. When the telecoms company is able to provide a customer with the required service it must be able to do so using the customer’s existing telephone number or numbers. This requirement applies where the customer wishes to keep his number and has signed a contract with the chosen company.

1.8 While some telephone companies might be able to provide a facility to allow customers to keep their geographic numbers (ordinary telephone numbers of subscribers at a fixed geographic location eg numbers beginning 01 or 02), when they change their operator and address at the same time, the requirements of the Directive only apply to geographic numbers where the customer changes operator but remains at the same address. Number portability will be available for fixed non geographic numbers (see 1.11 below) where customers change both their operator and address.

1.9 The number portability provisions of the Numbering Directive will apply to all operators or service providers who provide fixed telecommunication services to the public using telephone numbers.

1.10 The proposed new licence condition will be placed in those licences which authorise the running of fixed public telephone systems or the provision of fixed services to the public or both. The requirements of the Directive will also apply, using freestanding Regulations (see Chapter 2), to service providers that do not run a network or system of any sort – the so called systemless service providers (examples of systemless service providers are those that resell the network services of a network operator eg NextCall).

1.11 The Directive states "that subscribers who so request can retain their numbers on the fixed public telephone network… independent of the organisation providing services…". Oftel and DTI consider that all numbers for services predominantly provided over the fixed network are required to be portable: geographic numbers (ordinary telephone numbers of subscribers at a fixed geographic location eg number beginning 01 or 02 and non geographic numbers which include freephone numbers (080), local and national rate numbers (0845 and 0870), personal service numbers (070) and premium rate service numbers (090). Numbers for mobile (077, 078 and 079) and paging services (076) as "mobile" services are not within the remit of the Directive.

1.12 The Directive states that "National Regulatory Authorities shall encourage the earliest possible introduction of operator number portability ……and shall ensure that this facility is available by 1 January 2000 at the latest". All telephone companies that provide fixed telecoms services cannot refuse to allow customers whom they take on after that date to keep their existing telephone number.

1.13 Where telephone companies have chosen to market or offer their services they must be able to provide number portability within the normal timescale of providing a basic service to customers. In such circumstances telephone companies must be able to provide number portability within 5-8 working days. In order to be able to provide number portability within this timescale telephone companies will need to have made all appropriate preparations with those companies involved eg the customer’s existing telephone company, before they market or offer services.

1.14 Licensed operators that do not comply with the requirements set out above will be in breach of their operating licence. Systemless service providers that do not comply will be liable to enforcement action through civil proceedings by the Director General of Telecommunications.

1.15 Oftel would consider that any telephone company that refused to accept a new customer solely on the grounds that the customer wanted to keep his number would be considered to be deliberately frustrating the aims of the Directive and implementing legislation. Such action may lead to enforcement action.

1.16 Oftel expects that operators and service providers will take steps to ensure that all prospective customers are aware that number portability will be available on request to any customer taken on from 1 January 2000.

1.17 In order to ensure that operators who intend to attract new customers are making number portability available Oftel will be closely monitoring its availability throughout 2000.

2.1 The specific purpose of the Regulations is to implement the terms of the Directive in UK law. The Regulations ensure that the current fixed number portability condition in telephone companies’ Telecommunications Act licences reflect the requirements of the Directive. They will also ensure those telephone operators that do not operate under a Telecommunications Act licence comply with the number portability requirements contained in the Directive. A copy of the proposed Regulations can be found at Annex B.

2.2 The draft Regulations are to be made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act. They would amend the Telecommunications (Interconnection) Regulations 1997 which are available from HMSO’s website at http://hmso.gov.uk. The draft Regulations also make a number of other amendments to the Interconnection Regulations which are technical drafting amendments.

2.3 The Regulations transpose the Directive’s provisions on number portability by imposing a duty on the Secretary of State and the Director General of Telecommunications, when exercising their functions under the Telecommunications Act 1984 (particularly concerning licensing), to ensure that the provisions of the Directive are complied with.

2.4 Customers should be able to keep their number when they change operator or service provider, regardless of whether they have obtained their number directly from a Licensee or from an independent service provider or reseller to whom a Licensee has provided a sub-allocation of numbers. It is the Licensee’s obligation to ensure that any number which has been allocated to him by Oftel can be ported to another operator or service provider. Thus, if a Licensee sub-allocates numbers to another body which provides services over the Licensee’s telecommunication networks to the public, it should take appropriate measures to ensure that those numbers can be ported. Oftel would expect contractual arrangements between any Licensee and a person to whom it has sub-allocated numbers to deal with this situation. This principle is also covered in the Functional Specification (described at Annex A.1).

2.5 As a further measure to ensure that numbers sub-allocated to independent service providers or resellers are portable, Oftel and DTI intend to place obligations directly on such entities. As such entities fall outside the regulatory structure of licensing this is to be achieved through freestanding obligations contained in the implementing Regulations. Systemless service providers are required to provide portability in accordance with the Functional Specification.

2.6 The proposed licence modification will modify the current fixed number portability licence condition contained in most licences. Full text of the licence modification can be found at Annex C.

2.7 The Directive and implementing legislation does not impose an obligation on operators and service providers to take on customers. It will be for them to decide on a commercial basis whether they wish to take on new customers. The only fixed network operators that are obliged to take on new customers, under certain circumstances relating to compliance with licence requirements on universal service obligations and the supply of services on reasonable demand, are BT and Kingston Communications.

2.8 In deciding how to provide a portability facility to allow customers to keep their telephone number when they change operator, operators may consider whether they should have a direct porting facility or interconnection between operators or alternatively make use of available transit products that allow the transfer of numbers using a third party or operator.

2.9 Customers will, of course, before they change operators or service providers, need to satisfy themselves that the service and the terms of service offered by the new operator is acceptable. It is the number that is ported rather than the service associated with the number.

2.10 Subscribers are defined in the Directive as "any natural or legal person who or which is party to a contract with a provider of publicly available telecommunication services for the supply of those services". In terms of "end users" a subscriber would be a customer that is supplied with a service by reference to a telephone number that has been assigned to him. This entity or customer might be an individual, company or service provider. During the process of a changing operator there will be a transition period when the customer may be a subscriber of the old and new operator at the same time. It may only be after the new operator or service provider of the subscriber has requested that the old operator should export the subscriber’s number that the old operator will know that the customer wants to change operator.

2.11 Operators and service providers that decide to take on a new customer, must allow the customer to retain his existing telephone number if he wants to. Before an operator or service provider decides to take on a new customer it will have to ensure that it can provide service using the customers "old" or existing number when it provides a service to that customer.

2.12 In order to allow customers to keep their number when they change supplier of telecommunication services, operators and service providers must provide a number portability facility on request to each other. This will involve putting in place a facility to enable either the transfer of numbers to the "new" operator or the reception of numbers from the "old" operator.

2.13 The current number portability regime basis of allocating costs associated with portability is cost sharing. This principle was derived from the 1995 Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) recommendations and has since been supported by industry. This principle applies to both geographic and non geographic numbers. Given that this principle was supported by industry and has worked well under the current number portability regime Oftel considers that it should continued to be applied to the new portability regime.

2.14 The current cost sharing principles and those Oftel believe should be applied to the new portability regime are set out in the proposed licence modification and are:

The MMC’s recommendations were based on the principle that charges for portability should be cost-based. While BT’s charges are based on fully allocated costs it is appropriate for charges payable to other operators also to be based on such costs. BT’s charges are now set on an incremental cost base (following Oftel’s review of network charge controls). Oftel is currently working towards moving number portability charges to an incremental cost basis. They will then be a more appropriate basis generally for portability charges. However, the Licence condition recognises that the "old" or donor and "new" recipient operators may agree upon a different basis. For example, they may agree that charges should be on a reciprocal basis. In addition, one or both of the operators may ask the Director to determine the appropriate cost basis.

System Set-up costs are those incurred by each operator to ensure that its network and management systems can provide portability. The MMC concluded that "system set-up costs are an essential part of the investment which any operator needs to make in providing telecommunication services." Requiring the Licensee to bear its own system set-up costs in full will provide an incentive for cost minimisation. It will also reflect the wide distribution of benefits and promote effective competition.

The costs most directly applicable to those incurred with respect to setting up portability for each number or block of numbers should be borne by the operator to whom the number is being ported (the ‘recipient operator’) rather than the operator that is porting the number (the "donor operator")

Additional conveyance costs are the costs of conveyance of each call to a ported number additional to the costs of conveyance of non-ported calls. The Donor Operator may not charge the recipient operator a specific ‘portability’ charge for such additional conveyance. The cost of additional conveyance should be subsumed into the donor operator’s general network costs, spreading the cost over all calls on the network. Such an approach follows the principle of cost minimisation, by encouraging operators to minimise additional conveyance and thus adopt the most efficient routing method of providing portability. This approach also reflects the distribution of benefits: additional conveyance costs are incurred by calls to the ported number but the benefits of number portability accrue to all customers through enhanced competition. Moreover, as stated by the MMC, the provision of portability is an essential feature of a competitive telecommunication market: "It follows that the routing of calls to ported numbers should be regarded as a normal part of a telecommunication service and not a facility requiring special charging arrangements, particularly as telephone numbers are now a national resource and no longer ‘owned’ by individual operators."

2.15 In the event of a dispute, it is currently proposed that parties setting up a portability facility will be able to request the Director General’s determinations of the reasonableness of:-

• costs of providing portability;
• the categorisation of costs;
• the cost basis proposed;
• the charges for portability;

2.16 This procedure is designed to apply equally to the "old" or exporting and "new" or importing operator: either party can request a determination of the reasonableness of any terms or conditions offered by the other. Oftel would normally expect other operators to reach agreement and only request a determination as a last resort. Oftel will not proceed with a request for a determination unless it is satisfied that the requesting party has made full efforts to negotiate a settlement.

3.1 Oftel and DTI seek the views of operators, service providers, consumers, consumer groups, and any other interested parties on the proposed licence modification and implementing Regulations proposals contained in this consultation document by Friday 19 November 1999. There will then be a further two week period during which comments on the representations made during the first period of this consultation are invited. This will end on Friday 3 December 1999.

3.2 The Regulations will be revised in light of comments received, before they are made and laid before Parliament. We propose that they should be laid before Parliament before the end of the year coming into force 21 days later.

3.3 Views and comments should be made in writing and sent to :

Maura Crawford
Numbering Unit
Oftel
50 Ludgate Hill
London, EC4M 7JJ

Tel: (0171) 634 8874, Fax: (0171) 634 8784, E-mail

To make the consultation process simpler, Oftel will remain the single contact for this public consultation. However Oftel will copy all responses to DTI.

3.4 Written comments will be made publicly available in Oftel’s Research & Intelligence Unit except where respondents indicate that their response, or parts of it, are confidential. Respondents are therefore asked to separate out any confidential material into a confidential annexe which is clearly identified as containing confidential material. In the interests of transparency, respondents are asked to avoid confidentiality markings wherever possible. Appointments to view written comments in Oftel’s Research & Intelligence Unit, which must be made in advance, can be arranged by calling (0171) 634 8761.

3.5 Oftel would like to set up a link between this Consultative Paper on Oftel’s Web site and any responses on respondents’ own Internet pages. Please contact Lauren Ryner at Oftel on (0171) 634 8753 to arrange this.

3.6 Oftel has a free e-mail based mailing list to help people stay informed about the work Oftel is doing. Each time a document is placed on Oftel’s Web site, subscribers receive an e-mail informing them. For details on how to join please click here.

3.7 The summary is available in large print, Braille and tape formats. Please contact the Oftel Research and Intelligence Unit on (0171) 634 8761, or by e-mail, or call textphone (0171) 634 8769 for more information.

3.8 In considering proposals for new or amended Regulations the Government seeks views from business on how it views the likely impact of the Regulations. To measure the impact a Regulatory Impact Assessment incorporating a Compliance Cost Assessment is produced for all UK and European Community regulatory proposals affecting business, which is made available on request. To aid the production of this assessment, It would be helpful if you could comment on the likely cost implications (and any cost savings or other factors) which you believe would be likely to arise for your organisation as a result of the proposals in this document. Please note that we may make copies of your response publicly available unless you indicate that it is confidential.

3.9 It would be helpful if you could outline the areas where the main costs and benefits (broken down for each area into recurring and non-recurring costs at current prices) might occur for you as a result of the proposed implementation of the number portability provisions of the Numbering Directive. It would also be helpful if you could give the total recurring costs and total non-recurring costs as a percentage of your annual turnover.

3.10 Returns on the Regulatory Impact Assessment are requested by Friday 19 November 1999.

A.1 Number portability must be provided in accordance with the Functional Specification. The Functional Specification is a document published from time to time by the Director General, following consultation with all Licensees, which specifies technical and other principles which are intended to enable the efficient implementation and utilisation of portability. The Functional Specification sets out the scope of the portability to be provided; specific rules relating to the processes to be carried out by operators and others to whom allocations of numbering capacity have been made, in order to ensure the efficient provision of portability; and some general rules concerning the efficient use of numbers where portability services are being offered. The latest version of the Functional Specification can be found on Oftel’s website (www.oftel.gov.uk) under numbering publications. Personal numbers (070) will be added to the list of those numbers that are required to be portable.

A.2 Once a number has been ported to one operator, the customer may wish to switch again to another operator, still retaining the original number. Provided the customer is not returning to the operator from whom he first obtained the number, these subsequent changes of operator are known as ‘Subsequent Portability’ in this consultation document. So far as the original operator is concerned, it makes no difference, in regulatory terms, whether the portability it is providing is an initial or a subsequent port: all calls will have to be routed over its network. Whilst there are certain rules to be observed between network operators when providing Subsequent Portability, there is no need for separate provision to be made in the Licence condition to cover it. Subsequent Portability will involve a third party – a ‘new’ recipient operator. The regulatory obligations would be between the Licensee and the ‘new’ recipient operator. For regulatory purposes, the ‘previous’ recipient operator is not involved.

A.3 Number mobility is a service offered by operators which enables a customer to retain their geographic number when they change address. This is sometimes confused with number portability. Geographic numbers are numbers that refer to a specific geographic area eg subscriber numbers beginning 0141 identify subscribers living in the Glasgow telephone area, and are used for delivering calls to the location where the telecoms network connects to the subscriber’s telephone or Network Termination Point (NTP) in that area. Oftel and DTI consider that should the physical location or address of the subscriber’s NTP change any service that allows the subscriber to retain his number would not come within the terms of the legislation implementing this Directive. Any service offered by operators to allow a customer to keep his geographic number when he changes address eg within the same local exchange area, will be up to the operator concerned. Such a service or facility will not be covered by this new number portability legislation.

A.4 The Functional Specification does however include one rule on mobility: that, for a ported number, the recipient operator can only provide mobility within the service area of the donor operator. The Function Specification defines "service area" in this context. This is designed to ensure that the customer can port his number back to the donor operator if he wishes, by restoring his connection to the donor operator’s network with "out of area" processes being instigated. It also ensures that access to mobility is not affected by the operation of portability and that commercially provided mobility services that are not regulated by Oftel are not subsidised by portability services regulated by Oftel.

A.5 The design and intelligence of many current telephone network billing systems means that for certain non geographic numbers only eg premium rate numbers (090) and personal numbers (070), number portability will have some pricing limitations. Numbers that have been ported to another operator may have to keep the charging rate to the customer eg 20p per minute, set by the original operator to whom the number block was allocated. This is because most billing systems are designed to examine a limited amount of digits of each telephone number in order to determine the appropriate charge rate for calls to that number.

A.6 Parameters for charge rates laid out in the Numbering Conventions for reasons relating to consumer protection and transparency of prices also limit the flexibility for charge rates for certain numbers. For example when calling a premium rate number (090) the prior knowledge that the call is likely to be expensive forewarns callers or in the case of local rate numbers (0845) that they are reasonably inexpensive.

A.7 Additional expenditure by operators on software and equipment, which is already happening, will allow operators to examine more numbers. However, until billing systems examine all the digits in a telephone number this limitation will remain to some degree.

A.8 The Directive requires that subscribers should be allowed to retain their numbers if they change to an alternative operator. It follows that contracts should not prohibit subscribers taking their telephone numbers to alternative operators. Should a subscriber, who has signed an agreement for the provision of telephone services for a specific period, want to move to an alternative supplier, the subscriber should be able do to, subject to any reasonable payments that might have to be made to compensate the existing operator for early curtailment of the contract.

A.9 Oftel has also been asked for guidance on whether subscribers who owe money or are in dispute with their existing operator over a service bill should be able to port their number to another operator . Oftel considers that there are separate mechanisms to allow the recovery of any legitimate monies owed. Oftel does not therefore consider that this issue should prohibit subscribers from taking their telephone number to any alternative operator or service provider which is willing to take them on.

1999 No.

The Telecommunications (Interconnection) (Amendment) (Nt[number Pportability) Regulations 1999

Made ------------------- November 1999
Laid before Parliament January 2000
Coming into force December 1999

The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated (a) in pursuance of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 (b) in relation to measures relating to telecommunications, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by that section and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:-

PART I

PRELIMINARY

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Telecommunications (Interconnection) (Amendment) (Number Portability) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force on 1 January 2000.

2. -(1) In these Regulations-

"the Act" means the Telecommunications Act 1984 (c) ;

(2) Any expressions used in these Regulations which is also used in the Amending Interconnection Directive has the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in that Directive.

(3) Any other expression in these Regulations shall have the meaning it has in schedule 1 of the standard schedules as set out in the Telecommunications (Licence Modification) (Standard Schedules) Regulations 1999.

(4) Except where the context otherwise requires and subject to paragraphs (1) and (2) any expression used in these Regulation which is also used in the Act has the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Act.

PART II

AMENDMENTS TO THE PRINCIPAL REGULATIONS

3. Regulation 2(2) of the principal Regulations is hereby amended as follows:

"ISDN" means the Integrated Services Digital Network;

4..---- (1) Regulation 6(3) of the principal Regulations is amended by the deletion of the words "the Director may intervene at any time, and shall do so on the request of either party, in order to make a direction" and the substitution of the words "the Director may make a direction at any time, and shall do so on the request of either party";

(2) Regulations 6(6), 6(7) and 10(2) are amended by the deletion of the word "published" and the substitution of the words "made available";

(3) Regulation 6(11) is amended by the substitution of the letter "(e)" for the letter "(f)".

5. Regulation 7(5) is amended by the deletion of the words "relevant regulatory provisions on the protection of data" and the substitution of the words "section 101 of the Act, and the Data Protection Act 1998.

6. Regulation 11 of the principal Regulations is hereby amended as follows:

(a) for paragraph (1)(c) there shall be substituted the following paragraph-

7. Regulation 10(1) is hereby amended by the insertion after the words "use of property" of the words "in accordance with sections 34 to 40 of , and paragraphs 2 to 7 of Schedule 2 to, the Act."

8.-(1) With effect from the 1 January 2000 any Systemless Service Provider shall provide Number Portability on reasonable terms to any of its Subscribers who notify it in writing that they require it to provide them with Number Portability.

(2) A Systemless Service Provider shall provide Portability in relation to any request for Portability made to it by an Operator or a Service Provider ( other than Mobile Portability or Paging Portability) on reasonable terms and in accordance with the Functional Specification.

9. Regulation 13 of the principal Regulations is hereby amended by the insertion at the end of that regulation as follows:

10. Without prejudice to any right which any subscriber may have by virtue of regulation 8 or otherwise to bring civil proceedings in respect of any contravention or apprehended contravention of the duty referred to in regulation 8, compliance shall be enforceable by the Director by civil proceedings for an injunction or interdict or any other appropriate relief.

11. Consequent upon the extension of the Interconnection Directive to the European Economic Area by Decision no. 7/99 of the EEA Joint Committee which came into force on 30 January 1999 the references to "Member State" in the definitions of "European Public Operator" and "special rights" and in Regulations 6(1)(d) and 6(9) of the principal Regulations shall be interpreted as including a contracting party to the EEA Agreement.

Patricia Hewitt
Minister for Small Business and E Commerce
Department of Trade and Industry
October 1999

X.1 With effect from the 1 January 2000 the Licensee shall provide Number Portability on reasonable terms to any of its Subscribers who notify the Licensee in writing that they require it to provide them with Number Portability.

X.2 Pursuant to a request for Portability made to it by an Operator or a Service Provider, the Licensee shall provide Portability (other than Mobile Portability or Paging Portability) in relation to that request on reasonable terms in accordance with the Functional Specification and with the following provisions provided that any charges for provision of such Portability shall be made by the Licensee in accordance with the following principles:

1. subject always to the requirement of reasonableness, charges shall be based, unless the charges made by British Telecommunications plc for the provision of telecommunication services under Condition 69 of its licence granted under section 7 of the Act shall be incremental costs, in which case the basis for charges shall be incremental costs, on the fully allocated costs of providing Portability unless the Donor and Recipient Operator shall have agreed another basis for charges, or the Director shall have determined, following an application by either of them, that another basis for charges should be used;
2. the Donor Operator shall make no charge in relation to any System Set-Up Costs;
3. subject to sub-paragraph X.2 (b), the Recipient Operator shall pay charges based on the reasonable costs incurred by the Donor Operator in providing Portability with respect to each Number which, subject to sub-paragraph X.2 (d) may be paid by way of specific elements of the provision of the facility;
4. the Donor Operator shall make no specific charge based on Additional Conveyance Costs:

X.3 Where a request for Portability referred to in paragraph X.2 has been given, the Licensee or the Operator requesting Portability may refer in writing to the Director for his determination any question as to the reasonableness of:

1. the costs incurred in providing Portability (other than Mobile Portability or Paging Portability);
2. the categorisation of costs;
3. the proposed use or use of a higher cost method in proposing to implement or implementing any aspect of Portability (other than Mobile Portability or Paging Portability) where a lower cost method could or ought to have been used;
4. the charges to be made for providing Portability (other than Mobile Portability or Paging Portability);
5. the basis for calculating such charges.

X.4 Before making any determination under paragraph X.3 the Director shall consult with the Licensee and the relevant Operator and with Interested Parties and take into account any representations made by them.

X.5 If requested in writing by the Director, the Licensee shall provide to the Director a record of each Number in relation to which it is providing Portability (other than Mobile Portability or Paging Portability), specifying the relevant Operator or Service Provider in each case.

Where a definition does not appear in this section the existing standard definition applies.

"Donor Operator" means an Operator or Service Provider whose customer number(s) are in the process of being, or have been passed or ported to a Recipient Operator.

"Mobile Portability" means Portability relating to Numbers allocated for use with Mobile

Radio Telecommunication Services;

"Number Portability" means a facility whereby Subscribers who so request can retain their number on a Fixed Public Telephone System and the integrated services digital network (ISDN), independent of the organisation providing the service at the Network Termination Point of a Subscriber at a specific location in the case of Geographic Portability or at any location in the case of Non-Geographic Portability;

"Paging Portability" means Portability relating to Numbers allocated for use with Radio Paging Services.

"Portability" means any facility which may be provided by the Licensee to an Operator or to a Service Provider enabling any Subscriber who requests Number Portability to continue to be provided with any telecommunication service by reference to the same Number irrespective of the identity of the person providing such a service;

"Radiopaging Service " means telecommunication services consisting in the conveyance of Messages by means of Wireless Telegraphy where every message, apart from simple acknowledgement, is ultimately transmitted from Station for Wireless Telegraphy comprised in the Applicable Systems run by the Licensee to a Station for Wireless Telegraphy or Wireless Telegraphy Apparatus that is not comprised in those Applicable Systems

"Recipient Operator" is an Operator or Service Provider to whom customer number (s) are in the process of being, or have been passed or ported from a Donor Operator.

"System Set-up Costs" means costs of the Donor Operator incurred –

1. in the course of making network and system modifications, configuration and reconfiguration, including adapting or replacing software;
2. in the course of testing functionality within the Applicable System and in conjunction with any Recipient Operator’s systems;

anywhere within the license area thereby establishing the technical and administrative capability to provide Portability".

"Systemless service provider" means a person who provides publicly available telecommunication services but who does not run a telecommunications system within the meaning of Section 4 of the Act by means of which such services are provided.

"Additional Conveyance Costs" means any costs incurred by a Donor Operator associated with resources used in:

1. effecting the switch-processing required to set up each ported call; and
2. providing the switch and transmission capacity for any part of the duration of each ported call;

additional to the costs of conveyance of non-ported calls from the Applicable Systems to the system of the Recipient Operator.

"Fixed Public Telephone System" means the telecommunication systems run by a person under a licence which has been granted under section 7 of the Act whether to a particular person, persons of a class or persons generally, and which form part of the Fixed Public Telephone Network by means of which Fixed Publicly Available Telephone Services are provided;

"Geographic Portability" means Portability relating to Numbers allocated as provided for in the National Numbering Conventions in accordance with the rules for the allocation of Geographic Numbering Ranges;

"Non-Geographic Portability" means Portability relating to Numbers allocated in accordance with the rules for the allocation of Number Ranges other than Geographic Number Ranges as provided for in the National Numbering Conventions but excluding Portability relating to Numbers allocated for use with Mobile Radio Telecommunications Services.

"Operator" for the purposes of Condition 28 means any person authorised to provide telecommunications services not being prohibited from receiving any financial benefit from such provision of such services, and obliged by virtue of provisions in the Licence authorising the provision of such services, to adopt a Numbering Plan for such Numbers as may have been allocated by the Director to that person in accordance with the National Numbering Conventions.

"Service Provider" means any person who is in the business of providing telecommunication services of any description.

"Subscriber" means any natural or legal person who or which is a party to a contract with a provider of publicly available telecommunications services for the supply of such services in the United Kingdom.

DTI – Department of Trade and Industry

Donor Operator – An operator whose customer number(s) are in the process of being, or

have been passed or ported to a Recipient Operator.

Functional Specification – A document published from time to time by the Director General, following consultation with all Licensees, which specifies technical and other principles which are intended to enable the efficient implementation and utilisation of portability.

Geographic Numbers – Ordinary telephone numbers of subscribers at a fixed geographic location eg those beginning with 01 or 02.

MMC – Monopolies and Mergers Commission (The Competition Commission)

Non Geographic Numbers – Numbers that do not refer to a fixed geographic location eg freephone numbers (080), premium rate numbers (090)

Numbering Conventions – A set of principles and rules for the use and allocation of numbers

Numbering Directive – Directive 96/61/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 1998 amending 97/33/EC with regard to operator number portability and carrier pre-selection

Number Portability – A facility provided by telecommunications operators which enables customers to keep their telephone numbers when they change their operator.

Oftel – Office of Telecommunications

Operator – Any person authorised to provide telecommunications services not being prohibited from receiving any financial benefit from such provision of such services.

Recipient Operator – An operator to whom customer number (s) are in the process of being, or have been passed or ported from a Donor Operator.

Subscriber – Any natural or legal person who or which is party to a contract with a provider of publicly available telecommunication services for the supply of those services

System Set-up Costs – Costs incurred by each operator to ensure that its network and management systems can provide portability

Telecommunications Act – The Telecommunications Act 1984