Investigation into BT’s (including EE’s) (“BT”) compliance with its regulatory obligations under section 105A(4) of the Communications Act 2003 and General Conditions A3.2(b), A3.5 and A3.6

Following a mobile network outage on 21 May 2019, Ofcom has decided to open an investigation into whether BT has complied with its obligations under section 105A(4) of the Communications Act 2003 (the Act) and the General Conditions A3.2(b), A3.5 and A3.6.

Section 105A(4) of the Act requires a network provider to “take all appropriate steps to protect, so far as possible, the availability of the provider’s public electronic communications network”.

The relevant General Conditions provide:

“A3.2 Regulated Providers must take all necessary measures to ensure: […]

(b) uninterrupted access to Emergency Organisations as part of any Publicly Available Telephone Services offered.”

"A3.5 Regulated Providers shall, to the extent technically feasible, make accurate and reliable Caller Location Information available for all calls to the emergency call numbers "112" and "999", at no charge to the Emergency Organisations handling those calls, at the time the call is answered by those organisations.

A3.6 In order to make accurate and reliable Caller Location Information available to the Emergency Organisations handling the calls to "112" and "999", a Regulated Provider must comply with the following requirements:

1. where it provides an Electronic Communications Service at a fixed location, the Caller Location Information must, at least, accurately reflect the fixed location of the End User’s terminal equipment including the full postal address;
2. where it provides a Mobile Communications Service, the Caller Location Information must include, at least, the Cell Identification of the cell from which the call is being made and, where available, an indication of the radius of coverage of the cell. In exceptional circumstances, where the Cell Identification is temporarily unavailable for technical reasons, the Caller Location Information must include the Zone Code; and
3. where it provides a VoIP Outbound Call Service:

1. it must, where its VoIP Outbound Call Service is to be used principally at a single fixed location, recommend its Domestic and Small Business Customers to register with it the address of the place where the VoIP Outbound Call Service is to be used prior to its activation and update that address information if there is any change; and
2. where it has a reasonable expectation that, or has been informed that, its VoIP Outbound Call Service is to be accessed from multiple locations, it must recommend that its Domestic and Small Business Customers register and update the location information associated with it, whenever accessing the VoIP Outbound Call Service from a new location.”

As we explain in our Enforcement Guidelines, opening an investigation does not imply that we have yet formed any view about whether or not the company has breached any regulatory or legal provisions. We aim to complete the evidence gathering phase of the investigation by December 2019.