http://www.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/groups/nts_focus/notes/nts20071005

NTS Focus Group – 10th May 2007 – 2.00 pm Ofcom


Agenda item (1) - Introductions
Attendance:
Andrew Wileman
Virgin Media (Chair)

Fraser Douglas
Band-X

Marcus Rudkin
Band-X

Rob Day
BT

Kath Embleton
BT

Sean Hartley
BT

Becky Hewlett
Cable & Wireless

Justin Hornby
Cable & Wireless

Laurent Pariat
Cable & Wireless

Andrew Monk
Carphone Warehouse

Toby Higho
Easynet/Sky

Tom Cairns
Gamma

Andy Martin
IV Response

Lesa Green
Kingston Communications

Nancy Saunders
Kingston Communications

Gareth Davies
Ofcom

Nic Green
Ofcom

Nick Morris
Ofcom

Dirmuid Jennings
Reality Telecom

Colin Scott
Thus

Michael Barford
Tiscali

Lee Alloway
Verizon Business



Agenda Item (2): Review of minutes of previous meeting
No 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
As confirmed at the last NTSFG, Ofcom published a Statement entitled “ Conditions regulating Sexual Entertainment Services” on the 8 th March. Gareth Davies said that there was nothing further to report at this point.

Review of Regulation of Premium Rate Services
Gareth advised that the review remained ongoing. Consumer research was underway, with survey results being evaluated. Gareth added that among the additional aspects being considered were price transparency, convergence, overseas models, a study of micro payment mechanisms and the prospect of implementing a PRS provider registration scheme. A consultation document is in the process of being drafted, with an intention to publish in the Autumn of 2007.

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 within the next few weeks.

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

ICSTIS progress re. Governance of 0871
Gareth confirmed that the ICSTIS consultation document had now been published. Nancy Saunders asked if Ofcom would be responding to the consultation. Gareth said that he was unable to confirm this point. Ofcom intends to provide any advice to ICSTIS that it deems appropriate – and this could be either formal or informal. Colin Scott asked if there had been any pre-discussion between Ofcom and ICSTIS. Gareth confirmed that there had been.

Andy Martin expressed a concern that the regulation proposed for 0871 was not as ‘light touch’ as anticipated, and appeared, to a large extent, to replicate existing PRS regulation. Nancy Saunders asked if ICSTIS had conducted an impact analysis or cost/benefit analysis. Gareth confirmed that ICSTIS had undertaken some prior analysis, but this had not taken the form of an impact analysis or CBA specifically.

Gareth added that the views expressed at the NTSFG would be taken into account by Ofcom when considering its response to ICSTIS.

Colin Scott asked if 0871 would feature in the forthcoming review of PRS . Gareth said that it would, but that the current governance consultation needed to be concluded in advance.

General Condition 14 Enforcement Programme
Gareth Davies said that Ofcom had nothing further to report at this stage. Monitoring remains ongoing.

BT POLO Dispute ( 1 st October 2006 OCCNs)

Attendees were advised that the closing date for responses to the draft determination was tomorrow ( 11 th May 2007). Becky Hewlett asked if the proposed solution would result in any BT billing issues. Kath Embleton said that she believed it would, and that these were detailed in BT’s response to the draft.

Own-Initiative Investigation into the Possible Mis-use of 087 Numbers
Gareth advised that Ofcom’s own initiative investigation into the possible mis-use of 087 numbers was ongoing. In particular, Ofcom had discovered that some terminating parties could be located overseas. Gareth added that Ofcom would provide an update in due course.

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Agenda Item (5) – Update on arrangements for call termination payments under new 0870 regime
Attendees were advised that pricing proposals relating to CP termination of 03 and (post Feb 08) termination of 0870 calls had been distributed by BT. Laurent Pariat said that the fact that the form of these proposals had not hitherto been shared by BT demonstrated contempt for the process undertaken by the industry charging workshop. Rob Day said that while he agreed the lack of advance visibility would be disappointing for CPs, BT had needed to exercise a certain amount of discretion in order to ensure that any proposal gained the approval of BT’s pricing board.

Laurent sought clarity around the process that BT had used to calculate the proposed charges. Rob Day said that BT had averaged existing geographic (reciprocity) outpayments for the Single Tandem element and had uplifted this by the standard BT local to tandem conveyance factor for the DLE element. Laurent said that he believed it was inappropriate for BT to propose a new charging methodology this close to implementation, without the opportunity for informal debate, particularly when so much time had been dedicated to trying to arrive at a mutually agreeable industry solution earlier in the year. Kath Embleton said that ideally BT would have liked to release its proposals earlier, but was constrained by internal processes.

Colin Scott asked how soon BT would refer rejections of its 0870 pricing letters to Ofcom. Kath Embleton said that BT needed to demonstrate that there was no prospect of commercial negotiation proceeding. Colin asked if would be possible to run 0870 and anticipated 03 disputes in parallel. Kath said that the two scenarios were slightly different – the 03 situation would require the initial acceptance of BT rates, whereas the 0870 would not. Nick Morris said that from a regulatory process perspective, it would be easier to maintain separacy

Andrew Wileman asked what BT was intending to charge other CPs for termination of 0870 calls on the BT network from 1 st Feb 2008 . Rob Day said that this had not been finalised. See action point May07_01 above.

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 May 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. Discharged – the amendment note to the Statement ‘ Guidelines for the provision of Calling Line Identification Facilities and other related services over Electronic Communications Networks Version 2’, issued on 26 th April 2007 had confirmed that it was permissible to use 0871 as a presentation number.

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. Discharged – It was decided to combine this action and action point Feb07_02 into a new action point as follows:

New Action May07_03: Andrew Wileman to hold discussions with the chair of the Mobile Broadband Group with a view to gaining input to NTS debates from the mobile community (to include the prospect of MNO attendance at the NSTFG, or NTSFG member attendance at the Mobile Broadband Group.)

Action Feb07_01: BT to confirm if it will be applying pre-call announcements to 0870 calls post 1 st February 2008 . Discharged – BT believes that it cannot anticipate the outcome of a potential Ofcom direction for an issue that is not yet in dispute and thus does not want to prejudice its position at any stage of the process . See email from Mark Amoss as distributed on 8 th May 2007 .

Action Feb07_02: Andrew Wileman to discuss attendance of selected NTSFG representatives at the Mobile Broadband Group with Hamish MacLeod. Discharged – See new action point May07_03.

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. It was agreed that this action point would remain open for one further meeting, after which it would be discharged. Attendees were encouraged to input to the debate.

Action Feb07_05: Ofcom to review the concerns around 03 implementation and consider potential remedies to the situation. Ongoing – Gareth Davies said that Ofcom was continuing to consider the issue but reiterated Ofcom’s belief that this should not hold up the 03 implementation.

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idb wrote on Jun 28^th, 2007 at 4:41am:
Did I miss something?  0871 regulation is basically the same as existing NGNs except clearer pricing transparency.  CP have to keep money for a month, etc but most (if not all) CPs already do this as well which is what ICSTIS have stated.

I believe this Andy Martin from IV Response is concerned about possible loss of potential new customers put off by the fact that they may have to clearly state calls cost 10p/min, etc... and therefore the revenue that IVResponse themselves get from the calls.

Just money grabbing b******* who are more concerned about themselves than us end consumers whom have to ring these numbers.

For just once, I'd like to see consumers put first instead of everyone else.

I am intending to ask Ofcom why there is no consumer representation on the NTS Focus Group.