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Additional Requests from BT for exemptions and variations to its Undertakings under the Enterprise Act 2002 (including Variation Number: 10)

Summary

1.1 On 22 September 2005 British Telecommunications plc (“BT”) offered, and Ofcom accepted, a set of undertakings (“the Undertakings”) pursuant to section 154 of the Enterprise Act 2002 in lieu of a reference of certain markets to the Competition Commission. At the time the Undertakings were formulated it was realised that in the interest of reaching a conclusion in a timely manner, to ensure that the benefits could be felt by consumers as quickly as possible, it would be inappropriate to define all of BT’s products to which Equivalence of Inputs (EOI) should apply. In addition, the Undertakings provide that under certain circumstances BT may apply for exemptions from certain provisions.

1.2 In January 2006, BT provided Ofcom with a proposed list of products (which had not been specifically identified in the original Undertakings) to which EOI should apply and a number of requests for exemptions and requests for agreement from Ofcom. BT needs to seek such requests since, for instance, Openreach cannot supply certain products on a non-EOI basis unless it has the agreement of Ofcom. In June 2006, Ofcom issued a statement relating to the first batch of exemption requests[^(-1-)]. In October 2006, Ofcom issued a consultation[^(-2-)] related to thirteen outstanding requests listed in the earlier statement, and in December 2006 issued a statement agreeing to a further nine requests[^(-3-)]. This left outstanding four requests for fibre-based products. Ofcom issued a statement on 19 th July 2007 in respect of these[^(-4-)]. In addition, Ofcom provided temporary exemptions for BT’s 21CN Pathfinder trial[^(-5-)] and for certain planning functions[^(-6-)], whilst requirements were discussed between Ofcom and BT.

1.3 On 19 th July 2007, Ofcom also published a consultation document, Additional Requests from BT for exemptions and variations to its Undertakings under the Enterprise Act 2002[^(-7-)]. This included four additional exemption requests from BT. These included an updated request for BT’s 21CN Pathfinder trial for voice services in South Wales, to replace its temporary exemption. It also included a request for Short Haul Data Services which related to previously granted exemptions. There were also two requests, for Tags Helpdesk and Messaging services, that were related to exemptions from the strict implementation of User Access Controls for Operation Support Systems, as set out in Ofcom’s statement of 21 st June 2007[^(-8-)]. The consultation also included a proposed variation to the Undertakings to allow BT to take reasonable and proportionate steps in response to exceptionally serious incidents (such as a potential terrorist attack or a serious illness of pandemic proportions) which might otherwise be prohibited under BT’s Undertakings.

1.4 This statement concludes that consultation and includes a decision by Ofcom to agree with BT to the four requests for exemptions and to the variation. The agreed variation, exemptions and agreements set out in Annex 2 and Annex 3 of this statement took effect on 28 September 2007.

1.- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/btundertakings/exemptionsandvariations/requests/

2.- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/btrequests/

3.- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/btrequests/statement/statement.pdf

4.- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/btrequests/part3/variations.pdf

5.- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/btundertakings/exemptionsandvariations/ofcomresponse117.pdf

6.- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/btundertakings/exemptionsandvariations/ofcom201206.pdf

7.- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/variations/

8.- http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/bt_oss/statement/

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