Public telecommunications operators are licensed under Sections 7 and 8 of the Telecommunications Act 1984, and their systems designated as public telecommunication systems under Section 9. They include some cable companies and mobile operators. In total they number around forty. They are subject to the current Act, and already provide a reasonable interception capability. 233 were licensed by the DTI as of July 1999.
Postal carriers fall into two separate categories.
The first, operated by the Post Office, is already subject to the Act and should see little change. The second comprises all those mail carriers and couriers which offer publicly available services. Where the destination or origin of mail or parcels is overseas, or transportation involves carriage by air, carriers are already subject to Customs and Aviation regulations. Option 2 would represent a small additional cost to those CSPs currently outside the Act, in terms of the manpower, training and physical costs associated with providing reasonable assistance to an intercepting agency. Compliance costs would vary on a case to case basis, and are extremely difficult to predict.