On 10 August 2009, we published the consultation document and Notification entitled Waiver of BTs price notification requirement for wholesale business analogue exchange line services connection charges (the August document) in which we stated that we proposed to give consent to a waiver request from BT in relation to SMP services condition AA6(a).
SMP services condition AA6(a) was imposed on BT (hereafter we refer to Openreach which runs BT Groups local access network) following Ofcom's Review of the fixed narrowband wholesale exchange line, call origination, conveyance and transit markets. Condition AA6(a).2(a) requires Openreach to give not less than 90 days notice before changing charges for wholesale line rental (WLR) services, including the charge for the installation of a new wholesale business analogue exchange line.
On 8 July 2009, Openreach requested that Ofcom consent to a waiver of the notification period referred to above to enable it to give effect to a temporary price change earlier than 90 days, as set out in Access Charge Change Notice OR133 (ACCN OR133), issued on 24 July 2009.
In ACCN OR133, Openreach set out a scheme available to its wholesale customers, offering a rebate against the standard connection charge for a proportion of new WLR premium analogue exchange line connections made during the Offer Period. The number of new connections made during the Offer Period would be measured against new connections made in the 12 calendar weeks to 19 June 2009 (the Background Count) and the rebate would apply to those orders above the average number of new customer connections.