http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/groups/nts_focus/notes/nts8dec05Meeting Notes & Actions
Agenda item (1) - Introductions
Attendance:
Andrew Wileman
Telewest (Chair)
Marcus Rudkin
Band-X
Durmuid Jennings
Reality Telecom
Gareth Davies
Ofcom
Geoff Brighton
Ofcom
Clive Hillier
Ofcom
Harry Broomhall
Easynet
Anne McCardle
MCI
Andy Martin
IV Response
Ray Copeland
Opera Telecom
Will Goodall
Flextel
Colin Scott
Thus
Becky Hewlett
Cable & Wireless
Nancy Saunders
Kingston
Rob Day
BT
Alex Cheetham
BT
Kath Embleton
BT
Paul Bonafin
IV Response
Martin Pagnamenta
Gamma Telecom
Debbie Mulloy
NTL
Mike Barford
Tiscali
Agenda (2): Update/discussion on the current live NTS/PRS related consultations (Ofcom/All)
Geoff Brighton said that Ofcom had nothing to add to the consultation documents already published, but was happy to take any questions/clarify additional points.
NTS: A Way Forward
The deadline for responses to the consultation was 6 th December 2005 . Clive Hillier said that Ofcom had received approximately 1300 responses, most of which were from consumers. In particular, there was a notable volume of submissions using a downloadable template from the ‘saynoto0870’ website.
Of the remaining responses, around 100 were received from industry stakeholders (including ICSTIS), and business users . Approximately 100 of the responses were confidential (or included confidential annexes). Ofcom hoped to have published all outstanding responses on its website within a week. Geoff Brighton added that while the consultation was closed Ofcom would not ignore further representations made to it in the time before it has reached its final decision.
Andrew Wileman sought clarity on Ofcom’s timeline for decision making/publication of the final statement. Gareth Davies said that Ofcom would confirm a proposed date in due course, but the current intention was to publish a final statement in March 2006. Nancy Cox asked if the proposed 12 month interim period for 0870 would still commence from the date of publication of the final statement. Gareth said that since a final outcome to the consultation had not been decided upon, Ofcom could not fetter its discretion at this stage. Gareth added that the General Condition 14 consultation would be co-ordinated with the ‘Way Forward’ consultation as far as was possible. However, in the event that either of these consultations contained detail that anticipated the outcome of the other, it may be necessary to delay publication in order to coincide their release.
Andrew Wileman requested that pre-release embargoed copies of the consultation be made available to NTS Focus Group members in advance of any general release. Gareth Davies agreed to consider this request but noted that Ofcom had not agreed to such requests in the past.
Ofcom was asked how much influence it ascribed to short, ‘one-line’ consultation responses. Gareth said that all responses are regarded as valid and judged on their own merits. Nancy Cox asked how Ofcom would decide how representative the consumer responses are?. Gareth said that such a measure could be established from the results of the consumer research.
William Goodall presented Flextel’s perspective of the consultation to the group. William said that Flextel regarded the NTS problems as being entrenched in a lack of consumer understanding/confidence in call tariffs. He believed that the issues could be resolved by improving pricing transparency rather than introducing what Flextel perceived to be additional, unnecessary micro-regulation. William said that this could be achieved via the implementation of real time call pricing information.
Durmuid Jennings added that the problem was not limited to 0870 – price transparency was a far wider issue.
To reinforce Flextel’s theory of low levels of consumer confidence in pricing information, William presented an example of 118 pricing. This showed a broad variance by 118 code and demonstrated the fact that callers could be charged vastly different prices for what were in many cases comparable services. William then presented an example of a selection of NTS calls made from various mobile networks and the differing charges that would prevail depending on the network used. William said that Flextel had concluded that in general, consumers do not know what they are paying for telecom services. Durmuid Jennings/Andy Martin concurred with Felxtel’s thinking.
Flextel’s response to the NTS: A Way Forward consultation proposes that a mandatory ‘price labelling’ mechanism be implemented by OCPs and identifies three potential solutions. One of these would enable callers to obtain, free of charge, real time call pricing information via a ubiquitous 1XX code
William added that if callers knew the cost of calls in advance they would have no cause for complaint.
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