The information to be submitted will be the volume of voice and ISDN traffic carried over international facilities. This will give Oftel information on all the public voice traffic between the UK and other countries. Accounting rates 2.3 Oftel will collect all accounting rates set, from all operators, including arrangements for terminating international traffic other than traditional correspondent agreements. This requires operators to notify Oftel and other operators on the route, or operators who have announced an intention to operate on the route, of changes to the accounting rates on specified routes. 3.1 The publication by Oftel of information can stimulate competition.
Publication can also allow operators to participate in the policing of the market.
Operators may be able to identify possible abusive behaviour that is not apparent to Oftel. However, the advantages of publication need to be balanced against the need to keep information related to their business from their competitors. Information on traffic flows 3.2 The publication of statistical information on market size is accepted as beneficial to competition and does not generally raise confidentiality concerns. Detailed information on the sizes of markets for many goods and services are routinely published by government departments. In the international market, incumbent operators may have sufficient information on traffic flows.