Statutory Instrument 1998 No. 1580

The Telecommunications (Open Network Provision) (Voice Telephony) Regulations 1998

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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

1998 No. 1580
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The Telecommunications (Open Network Provision) (Voice Telephony) Regulations 1998

	Made	28th June 1998
	Laid before Parliament	30th June 1998
	Coming into force	21st July 1998

The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated[1] for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972[2] in respect of measures relating to telecommuni cations, in exercise of the powers conferred on her by that section and of all other powers enabling her in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations: -

Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Telecommunications (Open Network Provision) (Voice Telephony) Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 21st July 1998.

Interpretation
2. - (1) In these Regulations -

"the Act" means the Telecommunications Act 1984[

"the Commission" means the Commission of the European Communities;

"consumer" means any natural person who uses a publicly available telecommunications service for purposes which are outside his trade, business or profession;

"the Director" means the Director General of Telecommunications appointed under section 1 of the Act;

"directory information" means, in the case of directories, the name, address and telephone number of the subscriber and, in the case of a directory information service, may include the telephone number only of the subscriber or information that the telephone number of the subscriber may not be supplied;

"directory information service" means directory information provided over a telephone system;

"the EEA" means the European Economic Area;

"the EEA Agreement" means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17 March 1993;

"fixed publicly available telephone service" means the provision to end-users at fixed locations of a service for the originating and receiving of national and international calls, including voice telephony services and may include, in addition, access to emergency "112" services, the provision of operator assistance, directory services, provision of public pay-telephones, provision of service under special terms or provision of special facilities for customers with disabilities or with special social needs but does not include value added services provided over the public telephone system;

"fixed public telephone network" means the public switched telecommunications network which supports the transfer between network termination points at fixed locations of speech and 3.1 kHz bandwidth audio information, to support inter alia:

where access to the end-user's network termination point is via a number or numbers in the national numbering plan;

"fixed public telephone system" means the telecommunication systems run by a person under a licence which has been granted under section 7 of the Act whether to a particular person, persons of a class or persons generally, and which form part of the fixed public telephone network and by means of which fixed publicly available telephone services are provided;

"licence" means a licence granted under section 7 of the Act;

"major office" means for the purpose of regulation 18(1)(b), the systemless service provider's registered office and such other offices as the Director, having consulted the systemless service provider, may direct;

"mobile public telephone network" means the telecommunication systems run under licences whether granted under section 7 of the Act to a particular person or persons of a class by means of which publicly available mobile telephone services are provided at network termination points which are not at fixed locations;

"number portability" means a facility whereby subscribers who so request can retain their number on the fixed public telephone network at a specific location independent of the organisation providing service;

"ONP Committee" means the Committee created by Article 9(1) of the ONP Framework Directive;

"operator having significant market power" means (i) a public operator which the Director has determined to be an operator having significant market power in accordance with regulation 6(1) below; or (ii) a systemless service provider which the Director has determined to be an operator having significant market power in accordance with regulation 6(2) below;

"process" means to obtain, record or hold data or information or to carry out any operation or set of operations on the data or information, including;

and "processing" shall be interpreted accordingly;

"publicly available telephone services" means either fixed publicly available telephone services or publicly available mobile telephone services or both;

"publicly available mobile telephone services" means a telephony service whose provision consists, wholly or partly, in the establishment of radiocommunications to one mobile user, and makes use wholly or partly of a mobile public telephone network;

"public operator" means a person to whom a licence has been granted under section 7 of the Act authorising the running of a public telephone system and the provision of publicly available telephone services;

"public pay-telephone" means a telephone available to the general public for the use of which the means of payment are one or more of the following: -

"public telephone system" means telecommunication systems forming part of the fixed public telephone network or a mobile public telephone network;

"systemless service provider" means a person who provides publicly available telephone services but who does not run a telecommunication system within the meaning of section 4 of the Act by means of which such services are provided;

"subscriber" means a person who is party to a contract with the provider of publicly available telecommunications services for the supply of such services;

"universal service" means a defined minimum set of services of specified quality which is available to all users independent of their geographical location and, in the light of specific national conditions, at an affordable price;

"user" means a person using or requesting publicly available telecommunications services;

"voice telephony licence" means a licence granted under section 7 of the Act to a particular person or to persons of a class or to persons generally and which authorises the running of a public telephone system and the provision of publicly available telephone services; and

"voice telephony service" means a service available to the public for the commercial provision of direct transport of real-time speech via the public switched network or networks such that any user can use equipment connected to a network termination point at a fixed location to communicate with another user of equipment connected to another termination point.

    (2) Any expression used in these Regulations which is also used in the Revised Voice Telephony Directive has the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in that Directive.

    (3) Except where the context otherwise requires and subject to paragraphs (1) and (2), any expression used in these Regulations which is also used in the Act has the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Act.

EEA Agreement
     3. Consequent upon the extension of the Voice Telephony Directive to the EEA by decision No 25/98 of the EEA Joint Committee which came into force on 1 April 1998, Regulations 1 to 3 and 9 of the 1997 Regulations and Voice Telephony Conditions VTD1, VTD8, VTD9 and VTD10 in Schedule 1 to those Regulations are hereby extended to have effect in respect of Contracting Parties to the EEA Agreement[14] and in Regulation 9 and the Voice Telephony Conditions the words "member State" shall be interpreted as meaning a Contracting Party to that Agreement.

Revocations
     4. - (1) Regulations 4 to 8 and Schedules 2 to 4 of the 1997 Regulations are hereby revoked.

    (2) In Schedule 1 to the 1997 Regulations and in the relevant Licences within the meaning of the 1997 Regulations, Conditions VTD2 to VTD7 and VTD11 to VTD16 in Schedule 1 to the Voice Telephony Conditions are hereby revoked and Conditions VTD1, VTD8, VTD9 and VTD10 are revoked insofar as they regulate actions of a relevant Licensee in respect of any person who is resident in a member State of the European Community as regards telecommunications services provided by or to such a person.

Scope
     5. - (1) Regulations 9, 10, 13(b), 14, 15, 16, 17(1) and 18 apply to the running of mobile public telephone networks or to the provision of publicly available mobile telephone services or both.

    (2) Save as provided in paragraph (1) above these Regulations do not apply to the running of mobile public telephone networks or to the provision of publicly available mobile telephone services or both.

Significant Market Power
     6. - (1) For the purposes of the Revised Voice Telephony Directive and of these Regulations, the Director shall determine, in accordance with paragraph (3) below on the coming into force of these Regulations and from time to time, whether a public operator is an operator having significant market power which provides: