Home > Telecoms > Industry Groups > NTS Focus Group > Notes of meetings > 02|04|07

27|06|07

NTS Focus Group – 2nd April 2007 – 2.00 pm Ofcom

Agenda item (1) - Introductions

Attendance:

Andrew Wileman	Virgin Media (Chair)
Rob Day	BT
Kath Embleton	BT
Justin Hornby	Cable & Wireless
Laurent Pariat	Cable & Wireless
Martin Tredwell	Call Sciences
Rickard Granberg	Carphone Warehouse
Richard Anderson	Colt
Toby Higho	Easynet
Will Goodall	Flextel
Tom Cairns	Gamma
Lesa Green	Kingston Communications
Glen Burton	Kingston Communications
Gareth Davies	Ofcom
Clive Hillier	Ofcom
Giles Whitely	Redstone
Michael Barford	Tiscali
Anne McCardle	Verizon
Sandra Reid	Virgin Media

Agenda Item (2): Review of minutes of previous meeting

Gareth Davies raised a concern related to Action Feb07_00 (Ofcom to confirm its response made at the meeting {re. the setting of 0870 termination charges under the new regime} in writing to Flextel). Gareth said that Ofcom had already made its position clear at the meeting of 22 nd April and had confirmed this in a letter of 15 th March 2007 . Gareth said that Ofcom had nothing further to add at this stage. Andrew Wileman said that the action point would be updated accordingly.

No additional comments/concerns were raised. It was therefore agreed that the minutes could be published on the Ofcom website.

Agenda (3): Update/progress report on the current 'live' NTS related consultations/investigations: (Ofcom/All)

Sexual Entertainment Services consultation

Clive Hillier advised that Ofcom had published a Statement entitled “ Conditions regulating Sexual Entertainment Services” on the 8 th March. Clive said that the migration deadline (for moving SES on 08 to 09 number ranges) had been extended from 6 months to 8 (deadline is now 8 th November 2007 ). Attendees were further advised that the changes to the PRS Condition had immediate effect.

Post meeting note. A slight amendment was made to the Statement on 26 th April 2007 . (The reference in paragraph 3.63 to reverse SMS as an external means of payment has been removed to correctly reflect the fact that SES paid for by reverse SMS are premium rate services as defined in section 120(7) of the Communications Act 2003).

Review of Regulation of Premium Rate Services

Clive Hillier advised that the review remained ongoing. Consumer survey results were in the process of being evaluated. Clive added that the recent activity relating to television ‘phone-ins’ had added an additional dimension to the considerations and as such Ofcom was intending to issue a consultation in the autumn of 2007 (as opposed to the summer).

NCCN 500 investigation/NTS call termination market review

Gareth Davies said that the NCCN 500 investigation was in the final stages of legal review. Ofcom intended to publish its findings to the specific parties to the dispute at the end of April 2007.

The call termination market review remains on hold, pending the outcome of the NCCN 500 investigation.

ICSTIS progress re. Governance of 0871

Clive Hillier confirmed that ICSTIS intended to publish the consultation document in mid-April 2007.

General Condition 14 Enforcement Programme

Clive Hillier provided an update on the GC14 enforcement programme (see attached slide pack). Clive advised that the Ofcom investigation had recently closed, but this did not signal the end of Ofcom’s compliance programme. Will Goodall said that he could see no evidence of any enforcement activity having taken place. Clive added that the Codes of Practice must be in place prior to any enforcement action being taken. Will said that he had submitted a letter to Ofcom outlining Flextel’s concerns with the GC14 investigation programme. In particular, Flextel was curious as to why non-compliant CPs had not been named, and why specific results of the investigation had not been published. Clive said that the Ofcom case team would be responding to Flextel’s letter in the next few days. Will said that he was happy to share this response with NTSFG members.

New Action Apr07_01: Will Goodall to send the Ofcom response to Flextel’s concerns around the GC14 investigation to the Chair for distribution.

BT POLO Dispute ( 1 st October 2006 OCCNs)

Attendees were advised that Ofcom hoped to publish preliminary findings to the parties to the dispute within 2 weeks. Thereafter, it was anticipated that a final Determination would be made publicly available at the end of May 2007.

Own-Initiative Investigation into the Possible Mis-use of 087 Numbers

Clive Hillier advised that Ofcom had opened an own initiative investigation into the possible mis-use of 087 numbers, following a number of complaints. (Case opened 22 nd March 2007).

Agenda (4): Update on arrangements for call termination payments under new 0870 regime

Rob Day said that BT was intending to issue 0870 pricing letters in the latter part of April 2007. This was slightly later than originally anticipated as BT pricing board approval was still awaited.

Discussion turned to Ofcom’s response to the industry letter regarding 0870/03 implementation timing concerns (submitted to Ofcom on 1st March 2007 ). Will Goodall said that references to ICSTIS’ regulation of the 0871 range pre-judged the outcome of the forthcoming Consultation. Several other attendees said that the response suggested that the result of the consultation was a foregone conclusion, and questioned the effectiveness of the consultative process. Gareth Davies said that the standard consultation process would be followed, but the consultation document would need to give a reasonable view of the arrangements that would actually prevail. He added that in this respect, the consultation would not be a ‘green’ document. Much discussion had already taken place around the ICSTIS regulation of 0871 and a pre-consultation initiative had been undertaken.

Will said that the outcome of the consultation was critical to the strategic decision making process of many customers. Expecting customers to base said decisions on a consultative document was unreasonable. Richard Anderson added that CPs are having to base their discussions with customers on an unconfirmed set of rules.

Rickard Granberg asked if Ofcom had seen a draft copy of the consultation document. Gareth Davies said that it had, and was of the view that the document was close to being the equivalent of a Government white paper. As such it would likely provide a good indication of what will ultimately feature in the Code of Practice.

Will Goodall asked if BT would have the capability to provide pre-call announcements from 1 st February 2008 . Will said that he anticipated a potential situation, following a dispute referral, in which Ofcom required BT to provide announcements. Kath said that BT did not want to pre-judge the outcome of any such dispute. Will asked that BT take an action point to confirm (see also AP Feb07_01).

New Action Apr07_02: BT to confirm of it will have the capability to provide pre-call announcements on 0870 services from 1 st February 2008 .

Will suggested that the provision of pre-call announcements for 0870 services would be more onerous than those currently being discussed for the 070 range as they would need to make reference to specific charges, rather than simply providing a general ‘price warning’.

Agenda Item (5) – Implementation of the 03 Range

Richard Anderson raised a concern about the opening of 03 ranges that were parallel to existing 08 ranges that had been ported. If a certain CP (‘A’) opted not to open access to 03 services, or to delay implementation, and another CP (‘B’) wanted to provide service on an 03 range that was parallel to on 08 range that it had imported from CP ‘A’, it could apparently not do so until said CP ‘A’ (the donor) had opened access to 03.

Clive Hillier said that Ofcom acknowledged that such a situation could occur, however did not feel that it could do anything unless a dispute arose. (See also AP Feb07_03).

Andrew Wileman asked if any implementation activity had taken place to date. Clive Hillier confirmed that a number of 03 blocks had been allocated. Rob Day said that BT had received a Statement of Requirements. Toby Higho sought clarity around the timeline for BT’s response. Rob said that BT had 18 days in which to respond with initial feedback.

Andrew Wileman asked for an update on action point Feb07_04 ( BT to provide an indication of the form of contractual terms for 03 services). Rob Day said that BT intended to distribute this by the end of the week.

New Action Apr07_03: BT to provide an indication of the form of contractual terms for 03 services by 6 th April 2007 . (Replaces AP Feb07_04)

Will Goodall said that the consultation on General Condition 17 was relevant to the 03 debate . This consultation proposes an amendment to GC17 such that Ofcom’s decisions in respect of 03 and 070 numbers are enforceable on all relevant CPs. (The GC17 consultation is at the end of the “Raising Confidence in Telephone Numbers” document). Will said that responses to the consultation had not been published on the Ofcom website.

New Action Apr07_04: Ofcom to ensure that responses to the GC17 Consultation are published on the Ofcom website.

Will added that responses to the Ofcom Annual Plan Consultation appeared to be absent from the Ofcom website also.

New Action Apr07_05: Ofcom to ensure that responses to the Annual Plan Consultation are published on the Ofcom website.

Giles Whitely said that he and Lesa Green had recently attended a meeting with the Cabinet Office/Treasury on 03. Giles said that the Treasury appeared to be very interested in using the 03 range, but did not want to fund the provision of the service. Attendees at the meeting had expressed concerns over the feasibility of 03, despite being enthusiastic about the concept. Giles said that the key outputs from the meeting were for CPs to confirm if they could provide 03 without charge, and for the Cabinet Office to check its understanding of the operation of the 03 range with Ofcom.

Lesa Green added that the Government was apparently keen to advise its departments to adopt the 03 range as soon as possible. Some departments were, however, likely to start to use 0844 numbers given the uncertainties and timing constraints relating to 03.

Justin Hornby said that the Government would arguably be a key contributor to the success of the 03 range.

Andrew Wileman suggested that it would be useful to have a regular update from meetings with the Cabinet Office and any interaction between Ofcom and Government departments.

New Action Apr07_06: Ofcom to monitor the situation re. 03 with the Cabinet Office and report back to the NTSFG as appropriate.

Agenda item (6) – Review of remaining outstanding actions

Action Aug06_09 : Porting differential issue to be added to the agenda of the first NTSFG meeting of 2007. Ongoing – Andrew Wileman said that the issue had not been added to the February agenda due to the breadth of topics already included and the potential linkage with the NCCN 500 investigation (which was still ongoing). The issue would remain on the outstanding actions list and would be included as an agenda item at a future date.

Action Nov06_03 : Ofcom to confirm if the use of 0871 as a presentation number will be prohibited once covered by ICSTIS’ jurisdiction. Ongoing – Clive Hillier said that Ofcom intended to update the CLI Guidelines in the near future.

Action Jan07_04: Ofcom to consider the request for an extension to the 0870 implementation timetable. Discharged – Ofcom’s response to the industry letter had been distributed to NTSFG attendees on 21 st March.

Action Jan07_06: Andrew Wileman to contact the chair of the Mobile Broadband Group with a view to seeking representation from the mobile community at the NTSFG. Ongoing – Andrew confirmed that contact had been made. Additional discussion was needed (see also AP Feb07_02…)

Action Feb07_00: Ofcom to confirm its response made at the meeting in writing to Flextel. Discharged – See detail under agenda item 2 above.

Action Feb07_01: BT to confirm if it will be applying pre-call announcements to 0870 calls post 1 st February 2008 . Ongoing – See also new action point Apr07_02

Action Feb07_02: Andrew Wileman to discuss attendance of selected NTSFG representatives at the Mobile Broadband Group with Hamish MacLeod. Ongoing – Andrew advised that he and Hamish had exchanged voicemails but had not managed to speak directly.

Action Feb07_03: Attendees to consider if the duration of the 03 parallel block reservation window should be reduced and feed back to the chair. Ongoing – Andrew Wileman said that no feedback had been received. Attendees were encouraged to input to the debate.

Action Feb07_04: BT to provide an indication of the form of contractual terms for 03 services. Discharged – Replaced with new action point Apr07_03

Action Feb07_05: Ofcom to review the concerns around 03 implementation and consider potential remedies to the situation. Ongoing – Gareth Davies said that Ofcom did not believe that this should hold up the 03 implementation. He added that Ofcom did not want to intervene in advance of any commercial negotiations or absent of a dispute taking place.

Agenda item (7) – Any Other Business

Will Goodall said that he believed BT’s website was out of date, given the recent General Condition14 compliance investigation. Will asked that BT review the information on its site.

New Action Apr07_07: BT to review the information on its website in light of the recent GC14 compliance investigation.

Will Goodall said that General Condition 20 required non-geographic numbers to be accessible in EU Member States where it was technically and economically feasible. Will questioned why UK 0844 and 0871 services were not generally accessible from other EU Member States. Kath Embleton said that a number of carriers had in the past experienced difficulties with differential call termination charges and the associated arbitrage risks, so economic feasibility could be a key factor. Will said that he wanted to understand more about the reasons for non-availability and would write to BT. Will asked if Ofcom had considered the GC20 obligations and if so what (if anything) it intended to do?

New Action Apr07_08: Ofcom to confirm its thinking re. the GC20 obligations on access to UK 0844/71 codes from EU Member States.

Date of Next Meeting:

The meeting next meeting will take place on Thursday 10 th May 2007 , commencing at 2:00pm , at Riverside House, London.

Summary of New and Outstanding Actions:

Aug06_09	Porting differential issue to be added to the agenda of the first NTSFG meeting of 2007
Nov06_03	Ofcom to confirm if the use of 0871 as a presentation number will be prohibited once covered by ICSTIS’ jurisdiction
Jan07_06	Andrew Wileman to contact the chair of the Mobile Broadband Group with a view to seeking representation from the mobile community at the NTSFG
Feb07_01	BT to confirm if it will be applying pre-call announcements to 0870 calls post 1 st February 2008
Feb07_02	Andrew Wileman to discuss attendance of selected NTSFG representatives at the Mobile Broadband Group with Hamish MacLeod
Feb07_03	Attendees to consider if the duration of the 03 parallel block reservation window should be reduced and feed back to the chair
Feb07_05	Ofcom to review the concerns around 03 implementation and consider potential remedies to the situation
Apr07_01	Will Goodall to send the Ofcom response to Flextel’s concerns around the GC14 investigation to the Chair for distribution
Apr07_02	BT to confirm of it will have the capability to provide pre-call announcements on 0870 services from 1 st February 2008
Apr07_03	BT to provide an indication of the form of contractual terms for 03 services by 6 th April 2007 . (Replaces AP Feb07_04)
Apr07_04	Ofcom to ensure that responses to the GC17 Consultation are published on the Ofcom website.
Apr07_05	Ofcom to ensure that responses to the Annual Plan Consultation are published on the Ofcom website
Apr07_06	Ofcom to monitor the situation re. 03 with the Cabinet Office and report back to the NTSFG as appropriate
Apr07_07	BT to review the information on its website in light of the recent GC14 compliance investigation
Apr07_08	Ofcom to confirm its thinking re. the GC20 obligations on access to UK 0844/71 codes from EU Member States