http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/groups/nts_focus/notes/nts15052008

07|07|08

NTS Focus Group – 15 th May 2008 – 2.00 pm Ofcom

Agenda item (1) - Introductions

Attendance:
Kath Embleton
BT

Sean Hartley
BT

Bart Van Besien
Call Sciences 192 Global

Laurent Pariat
C&W (Chair, standing-in for Justin Hornby)

Andrew Monk
CPW

Christine Roberts
Colt

Will Goodall
Flextel

Invomo

Andy Martin
IV Response

Clive Hillier
Ofcom

Dirmuid Jennings
Reality Telecom

John Lockyer
Teamphone

Sandra Reid
Virgin Media


On the phone:
Lesa Green
KCom

Stephen Pang
QS Com

Colin Scott
Thus

Ann McCardle
Verizon

Other?
 

Apologies:
Justin Hornby
C&W

Geoff Brighton
Ofcom

 

Agenda (2): Update / progress report on the current 'live' NTS related consultations / investigations: (Ofcom/All)

Review of Regulation of Premium Rate Services

Ofcom hopes to publish its consultation in June 2008.

NCCN 500 investigation / NTS call termination market review
Clive indicated that the case team was still working through the respondents’ comments.

General Condition 14 Enforcement Programme
Clive stated that the enforcement programme was ongoing and that the case team was reviewing responses to section 135 requests sent to a number of operators.

Will Goodall and Andy Martin both raised concerns about the level of compliance despite earlier enforcement activity by Ofcom. Will stated that he will be writing to David Stewart about his concerns.

Stephen Pang gave examples of other pricing transparency problems, namely: a) surcharge of PRS by one mobile operator and b) exclusion from call bundles of certain 01 and 02 numbers, used for indirect access, and some 0844 numbers by another, as stating that in both cases the tariffs were not readily available on their website and was subject to changes without notice.

Clive proposed to flag these instances to Ofcom’s Consumer Policy team.

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Agenda Item (3): 0870 Consultation

Clive gave a summary of the consultation issued on May 2 nd (call announcement no longer required; Instead relies on availability of pricing information).

Christine Roberts asked for confirmation as to what business service providers would be required to do in terms of price publication given they are not subject to GC14.2. Clive indicated that there is a general price publication obligation under GC10, which applies to all operators.

Dirmuid Jennings queried the timescales for implementation. Clive replied that Ofcom has proposed that implementation should take place three months after the publication of the policy statement or as soon as possible after the 0870 call termination dispute is resolved if later. He noted that the 0870 call termination dispute was on hold pending the decision of the CAT on the mobile call termination appeal.

Andy stated that it was difficult to respond to the consultation without knowing the outcome of the 0870 termination rate dispute, and that a dispute on 03 rates was likely to follow, and possibly geographic termination rates.

Will pointed out that the decision may also result in BT putting its retail prices up.

Andy asked for BT’s comments. Kath responded that she didn’t know for sure but it was indeed a possibility.

Will also mentioned the Ofcom Consumer Panel press release the same day, which took a positive view on the Ofcom proposal, though they may realise it is not as good as it appears. Clive responded that the proposals would lead to an improvement in pricing transparency.

Kath stated that she couldn’t see how it was not expected that rates would go up as a result, as someone has to pay for the high termination charges.

Will said that Ofcom had not carried out any study of his price labelling proposal. Clive replied that Ofcom had reviewed the price labelling proposal in the NTS policy statement but concluded would be more cost effective.

Will responded was stifling competition and that he is considering taking the matter to the EU Commission. He added that Ofcom had not canvassed the industry to gather ideas on transparency. Clive disagreed and noted that Ofcom had consulted widely with industry prior and during the consultation process.

Andy suggested that he believed the best thing to do would be to withdraw the 0870 number range from use altogether. Kath queried the impact on service providers. Andy replied that they were already forced to migrate and that Ofcom could focus on the proper implementation of GC 14.

Agenda Item (4): 0871 Consultation

Clive summarised the consultation on the proposal to extend PRS regulation to 0871.

Andy stated that he could still see some challenges in the application of the regulation to non-premium services (e.g. customer service) in terms of e.g. refund of call charges (cf. 1.28). Will added that it may discriminate against smaller businesses which may not be able to cope with refund processes.

Clive responded that PhonepayPlus has proposed the refund mechanism as an alternative to providing a non-0871 number for complaints so businesses would have two options..

Christine queried the extension of the Statement of Application to lower 09 PRS chargebands.

Clive indicated that he believes they will not be covered by the Statement of Application but would rather be subject to the full Code of Practice in line with other 09 numbers.

Will queried the use of the ‘deemed retail price (D)’ in the calculation of the levy. Clive explained that revenue share can consist of a benefit in kind hence the use of the D rate as used in the NTS formula. Will asked whether it meant the levy was driven by the BT tariff, to which Clive responded that since most traffic is either originated or transited by BT outpayments to OLOs are related to the deemed retail price. Bart VanBesien asked whether there were any exemptions for such services as e.g. fax to email. Clive replied that the levy would apply to all 0871 traffic.

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Agenda Item (5): International Access to 0844/0871

Sean Hartley provided an update on BT’s implementation, stating that the rates were at the pricing approval stage and that an announcement (including pricing proposal) would be made in the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Laurent Pariat queried a statement in Ofcom’s 0871 consultation whereby BT had ‘announced’ that international access to 0844 and 0871 would be implemented once 0871 had transferred into the remit of PP+. CH replied that ‘announced’ in this case was meant to refer to discussions at the NTS Focus Group. Kath explained that BT were primarily concerned with scams, which frequently involved international calls, and confirmed that the intention was to open both 0844 and 0871 to international calls at the same time, i.e. October.

Will remarked that German law forbids international calls to numbers classified as PRS, which in all likelihood will apply to 0871.

Will also queried the statement in the consultation whereby Ofcom had consulted international gateway operators. Clive confirmed that several operators had been consulted and that Ofcom had reported its findings in the NTS A Way Forward Statement. Will then asked whether Ofcom would be prepared to release some information e.g. data to support its findings. Clive agreed to take the request away and respond by the next meeting.

[AP May08_01] Ofcom to respond on request for data on international access to NTS to be released

Clive agreed to consider whether Ofcom should write to operators.

[AP2] Ofcom to consider writing to operators on international access to 0844/0871 numbers

Agenda Item (5): new BT Retail charges

Sean stated that BT had completed its action point from the last meeting and that OCCNs had been issued to all operators to reflect the changes made by BT Retail.

Andy remarked that this was a regular occurrence caused by BT Retail. Kath explained this was due to the 14-day notice period to which BT Retail is subject.

Andy stated that there was a requirement to separate call set up for all termination rates, otherwise POLO rates dictate operators’ ppm prices on a level higher than BT’s, creating another issue of transparency.

Agenda Item (6): Review of Action Points from previous meetings

Minutes and Action Points from the previous meeting were not yet available at the time this meeting was held. Laurent proposed to deal with outstanding Action Points by email if required prior to the next meeting.

CH recalled that there was an action point from last meeting in relation to the inclusion of NTS numbers in directories (AP ref. Apr08_01). He stated that this point was covered in consultation and that CPs were invited to get in touch with the policy team. He noted that the consultation period has been extended until June.

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Agenda Item (7): AOB

03 porting billing issue
Sean explained that a billing issue had been identified with 03 ported numbers due to 03 not being NTS . The same problem will be affecting 0870 in the future and new porting codes will be required. Sean took an action to circulate a note on the issue.

[AP3] BT to circulate note on billing issue in relation to ported 03 and 0870 numbers.

Sean also referred to the billing upgrade due to take place in August 08 to address issues affecting calls to 03 numbers. Meanwhile BT will be invoicing manually from 1 st June and as it is currently not possible to identify the network point where the call was handed over calls be charged at the lower (ST) rate (see Interconnect Notification ref. 119/08 for more detail)

Date of Next Meeting:

The meeting next meeting will take place on 26 th June 2008, 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 NTS FG meeting of 2007

Sep07_01
ICSTIS to provide more detail on the levy calculation

Sep07_04:
All international carriers to confirm their plans for making international access available for 0844 and 0871.

Apr08_01:
Ofcom to clarify intended approach with regards to NTS inclusion in directories.

Apr08_02:
BT to inform the group of any POLO amendment as a result of the 1st April price changes.

May08_01:
Ofcom to respond on request for data on international access to NTS to be released.

May08_02:
Ofcom to consider writing to operators on international access to 0844/0871 numbers

May08_03:
BT to circulate note on billing issue in relation to ported 03 and 0870 numbers.

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