The great and the good gathered at, presumably, the palatial Riverside House, and spewed out their usual garbage:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/groups/nts_focus/notes/nts17aug06NS Focus Group - 17th August 2006 - 2.00 pm Ofcom
Meeting Notes & Actions
Agenda item (1) - Introductions
Attendance:
Andrew Wileman
Ntl:Telewest (Chair)
Mark Amoss
BT
Rob Day
BT
Justin Hornby
Cable & Wireless
Richard Anderson
Colt
Toby Higho
Easynet
Andy Martin
IV Response
Lesa Green
Kingston Communications
Sandra Reid
Ntl:Telewest
Geoff Brighton
Ofcom
Mike Barford
Tiscali
Paul Brisby
Tower House Consulting (rep. Orange)
Anne McCardle
Verizon Business
Agenda Item (2): Review of minutes of previous meeting
No comments/concerns were raised. It was therefore agreed that the latest form of the minutes could be published on the Ofcom website.
Agenda (3): Update/progress report on the current 'live' NTS related consultations/investigations: (Ofcom/All)
Supplying numbers for 09 premium rate services
Geoff Brighton said that a Statement had been published on 10 th August. This statement made available the 0980 range for adult services following the recent saturation of the legacy adult ranges. Geoff confirmed that the legacy ranges were now closed for new allocation.
Attendees were advised that Ofcom would be consulting on the extension of the Controlled Premium Rate Services definition to adult services operating on 08 ranges in September 2006.
Geoff added that Ofcom would be undertaking a full review of PRS services in the near future.
NTS call termination market review/NCCN 500 investigation
Geoff Brighton said that Ofcom was still in the process of drawing the NCCN 500 investigation to a conclusion. He added that the intention was to publish the preliminary findings in draft form in September 2006, at which point stakeholders would have the opportunity to comment.
The call termination market review remains on hold, pending the outcome of the NCCN 500 investigation.
NTS: A Way Forward – Implementation Update
Geoff Brighton said that the implementation steps were progressing to plan. In particular, Ofcom expected to issue a further consultation on the extension of PRS regulation to adult services currently provided on 08 ranges in September 2006, with a corresponding final statement anticipated before the end of the year. ICSTIS was due to consult on the extension of its remit to cover 0871 services by early 2007 and had recently issued a pre-consultation document aimed at establishing the scope of its consideration.
Geoff advised that there was an inconsistency in dates between the ‘NTS: A Way Forward’ and the ‘ TelephoningNumbering: Safeguarding the Future of Numbers’ statements. The former states that the reforms relating to the 0870 number range will come into effect in January 2008, whereas the latter states February 2008. Geoff confirmed that the official date was 18 months from the date of publication of the statement – this would be 19 th January 2008.
Mark Amoss suggested that the date of effect/implementation should be rounded up to 1 st February 2008 in order to make implementation as straightforward as possible, particularly from a billing perspective. No objections to this proposal were raised.
Agenda (4): Update on BT's proposal for call termination payments under new 0870 arrangements
Mark Amoss provided an update on BT’s current thinking around arrangements for 0870 charging once reclassification had taken effect. Attendees were asked to bear in mind the fact that this thinking did not have BT’s official sign off. Mark suggested that existing BT contractual arrangements should be preserved – and that this perpetuation of the legacy situation should also be applied to technical/routing aspects. Removing the need for contractual changes would simplify the transition and would mean that industry discussions would, in the main part, need only to focus on the termination charges.
Mark added that the issues identified by BT for consideration at the previous meeting were broadly consistent with those that had arisen during the CP conference call, although he expected some TCP/OCP divergence to become evident as discussions progressed. Lesa Green noted that IN dip requirements would also need to be taken into consideration.
Mark said that BT was still in the process of considering a number of factors and agreed to communicate these to the chair for distribution to the focus group once further internal debate had taken place.
New Action Aug06_01: Mark Amoss to communicate the outcome of BT’s additional considerations around the charging arrangements for 0870 post reclassification.
The group discussed how to progress the issue. It was suggested that a dedicated meeting be arranged, involving both BT and other CPs, during which all identified issues and potential approaches could be discussed. Attendees agreed that it would be convenient for the date of such a meeting to coincide with the next NTS focus group.
New Action Aug06_02: Andrew Wileman to arrange an 0870 charging workshop for the morning of 28 th September.
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