Notice under Section 12(2) of the Telecommunications Act 1984 — Proposed modifications to the licences of British Telecommunications plc (BT) and Concert Communications Company
Date: 2001-03-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: United Kingdom, exchange of information, systems interconnection, telecommunications, telephone charges

C 68/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

2.3.2001

NOTICE UNDER SECTION 12(2) OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT 1984

Proposed modifications to the licences of British Telecommunications plc (BT) and Concert
Communications Company

(2001/C 68/02)

1. The Director-General

of

Telecommunications

(the
(cid:145)Director(cid:146)), in accordance with Section 12(2) of the Tele-
communications Act 1984, as amended by the Electronic
Communications Act 2000 (the (cid:145)Act(cid:146)), hereby gives notice
that he proposes to make modifications to the licence
granted to British Telecommunications plc ((cid:145)BT(cid:146)) on 22
June 1984 and to the
licence granted to Concert
Communications Company ((cid:145)Concert(cid:146)) on 18 December
1996 by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

The effect of the proposed modifications to BT’s licence

The effect of the proposed modifications to Concert’s licence

4. The effect of

the proposed modifications to Concert’s
licence would be to control the charges for (cid:145)prospectively
competitive(cid:146)
years
beginning on 1 October 2001 and ending on 30
September 2005.

interconnection services

four

for

5. The reasons the Director is making these proposals is
because the current interconnection charge controls are
due to end on 30 September 2001.

2. The effect of the proposed modifications to BT’s licence

General

would be to:

(a) extend the present retail price controls (a control on a
group of services (cid:151) local, national and international
calls, line rental, connection and operator assistance (cid:151)
focused on the bottom 80 % of the BT’s customers by
expenditure set at the retail prices index less 4,5 %) for
one year beginning on 1 August 2001 and ending on
31 July 2002;

(b) further

the

control

of
(cid:145)non-competitive(cid:146) and (cid:145)prospectively competitive(cid:146) inter-
connection services for four years beginning on 1
October 2001 and ending on 30 September 2005;

interconnection

charges

6. The text of the proposed modifications and their effects
are set out in full in the statement (cid:145)Proposals for network
charge and retail price controls from 2001(cid:146), published on
Wednesday 31 January 2001. The document is available
via OFTEL’s website (www.oftel.gov.uk). The Director is
seeking comments on the proposed modifications to the
licences of BT and Concert. Interested parties have 28 days
this notice to make
from the day after publication of
representations on the proposed modifications. A further
period of 14 days will be given in which interested parties
may make comments on any comments made during the
first period of consultation.
In accordance with Section
the
12(6D) of
proposed modifications shall be taken to constitute an
objection only if
they are accompanied by a written
statement that they are to be so taken.

representations made against

the Act,

(c) extend controls on the prices for analogue private
leased circuits for four years beginning on 1 August
2001 and ending on 31 July 2005;

(d) extend the controls on BT’s retention for calls to
BTCellnet and Vodafone for four months beginning
on 1 April 2002 and ending on 31 July 2002; and

(e) bring under regulatory control the charges for flat rate
Internet access call origination (Friaco) at the digital
local
for
Friaco at the digital
local exchange into the network
charge controls from October 2001.

exchange, by incorporating the

charge

3. The reasons the Director is making these proposals are
because the current retail price controls and controls on
analogue private leased circuits are due to end on 31 July
2001; the current interconnection charge controls are due
to end on 30 September 2001; and to align the controls
on BT’s retention for calls to BTCellnet and Vodafone with
the retail price controls. Furthermore BT has market power
in the provision of the relevant services.

7. The proposed modifications are also available from Mike
Galvin at OFTEL, 50 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7JJ,
United Kingdom, tel.
fax (44-207)
(44-207) 634 88 69,
634 88 69, e-mail: mike.galvin@oftel.gov.uk

any

8. The Director is required by Section 12(2) of the Act to
consider
representations or objections on the
proposed modifications duly made and not withdrawn.
Subject to such consideration, and to the consent of BT
and Concert for the respective modifications, the Director
proposes to make the modifications as soon as practicable
after the statutory consultation is completed.

9. Representations on the proposed modifications can be
made to Mike Galvin by 2 March 2001. Comments on
responses have to be made by 16 March 2001.

10. Any confidential material should be clearly marked as such
and separated out into a confidential annex. All represen-
tations and objections
received by OFTEL, with the
exception of material marked confidential, will be made
available for inspection in OFTEL’s Research and Intel-
ligence Unit.