About this document
Providers of Publicly Available Telephone Services (‘PATS’ - fixed and mobile voice services) with an annual turnover in those services of over £40 million are required to obtain approval of their Total Metering and Billing Systems by Approval Bodies.
In order to obtain approval, the providers’ metering and billing systems must comply with the Metering and Billing Direction (‘the Direction’). The Direction is a technical standard intended to ensure that communications providers’ systems deliver accurate bills to customers.
This document sets out the conclusions of our consultation on our proposal to introduce a voluntary ‘Approval Logo’ available for use by those communications providers that have had their metering and billing systems approved. The proposal for an Approval Logo was intended to provide a means to indicate to customers that their providers’ billing systems have been independently audited and approved by Ofcom-appointed third-party assessors, known as ‘Approval Bodies’. This document explains why we have decided not to proceed with our proposal.