Designation of Oftel Standard OTR003:2001



	Designation of Oftel Standard OTR003:2001 - 28 June 2002



			Contents Summary Designation Explanatory memorandum Summary This document contains a Designation of the Oftel Standard OTR003: 2001 made by the Director General of Telecommunications under section 24(6) of the Telecommunications Act 1984 ("the Act") following formal consultation as required by section 24(9) of the Act. DESIGNATION Designation No: Oftel/2001/1 SECTION 24, TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT 1984 DESIGNATION OF STANDARD FOR METERS 1. The Director General of Telecommunications, in accordance with a general authorisation given by the Secretary of State on 29th June 1988, and in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 24(6) of the Telecommunications Act 1984 ("the Act") hereby, for the purpose of the approval of meters by such Approval Bodies as shall be appointed by the Secretary of State in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 25(1) of the Act, designates: Standard for Telecommunications Metering Systems and Billing Systems (OTR 003: 2001) a copy of which is annexed to this designation, as a standard to which: any Total Metering and Billing System (TMBS) run by any undertaking that provides public telecommunication networks or publicly available telecommunication services to record access to and usage of, and charge accordingly for Telecommunications Services, must conform if it is to be approved for use with any telecommunication system of the aforesaid undertaking. 2. In accordance with section 24(7) of the Act, the conditions specified below must be complied with if any meter used for the metering of Telecommunication Services as indicated in paragraph 1 above is to be regarded as conforming to the Designated Standard: (i) The meter shall be compatible with the TMBS as defined in paragraph 2.16 of OTR 003: 2001, ie "The totality of all equipment, data, procedures and activities used to determine the charges to be sought for service provision and service usage, and to present these charges on customers' bills" and in accordance with the requirements of OTR 003: 2001, the approval of a meter shall embrace the approval of the TMBS. (ii) An undertaking shall supply to an appointed Approval Body a Service Usage Specification (SUS) as defined in paragraph 2.14 of OTR 003: 2001. The undertaking shall demonstrate to an appointed Approval Body its best estimate of the effects on metering of the system features specified in the SUS. 3. "Meter" in this designation means "meter" as defined in section 24(15) of the Act. Signed: ………………………………………….. David Albert Edmonds a person duly authorised in that behalf under paragraph 8, schedule 1 to the Telecommunications Act 1984 Date: Issued 21^st December 2001, remade without change and signed 26^th June 2002. Explanatory memorandum 1. In February 2000, Oftel published the Statement Ensuring telephone bills are accurate which set out plans for a revised Metering and Billing scheme. The scheme is intended to improve consumers’ confidence in the integrity and accuracy of the bills they receive from communications service providers. The main features of the revised scheme are: a revised standard which covers fixed charges (such as line rental and discount schemes) and which focuses on the accuracy of the individual customer’s bill as well as the aggregate accuracy of metering and billing systems; an increase in the number of approval bodies accredited to operate the scheme; the progressive extension of the scheme to all major operators and service providers. 2. Because of its complexity and the decision to proceed on a co-regulatory and hence consensual basis, the revised scheme has taken longer to develop than was originally envisaged. However the key elements have now been set in place: the revised standard, OTR 003 : 2001, was initially designated on 21 December 2001 and published on 9 January 2002; the first issue of the Metering Systems and Billing Systems Approval Scheme Guide was published on 9 January 2002; three Approval Bodies (BABT, BSI, NQA) were formally appointed by the Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry to approve meters against the designated standard, on 25 March 2002. 3. This designation was first issued on 21^st December 2001 and published on 9^th January 2002 as part of OTR003:2001. It was subsequently drawn to Oftel’s attention by T Mobile that the terms of Designation Number Oftel/2001/1 of 21^st December 2001 were not consulted upon during the October 2001 consultation on the Standard and Scheme Guide or subsequently. In the interests of transparency, Oftel commenced such a consultation for a period of 28 days to 20 June 2002. 4. The Designation was based closely on that used for the previous Standard OTR003:1993 and although widely circulated, no comments were received from operators concerning its content following initial publication on 9^th January 2002. 5. Responses to the consultation were received from only 2 operators; one of the responses was confidential and the other was received from T Mobile. T-Mobile’s response made or reiterated points about the Standard and the Scheme attributes, which had already been consulted upon in October 2001 following the development phase with the industry. The responses made no comment about the terms of the Designation itself. Having considered the representations, Oftel is therefore of the view that the Designation should be re-issued without change.