What is this consultation about?
1.1 Ofcom is seeking views on its proposals: * To discontinue former licence Condition 48 (a specific regulatory requirement on British Telecommunications plc (ìBTî) and Kingston Communications (Hull) plc (ìKingstonî) to provide payphone call origination on reasonable request to persons running telecommunications services (which include indirect access service providers (ìIASPî); * To seek undertakings from BT and Kingston to provide payphone users with access to indirect access service providers from their payphones; and * To seek undertakings from BT and Kingston to continue their contractual agreements with other payphone providers to collect and distribute the Payphone Access Charge (PAC).
1.2 Preliminary discussions with BT and Kingston indicate that they are prepared to provide such undertakings.
1.3 Those undertakings are proposed to provide safeguards in the absence of formal regulation, to ensure: * Payphone providers are compensated for allowing competing providers to supply their services over their networks; * Payphone users, particularly those on low incomes without a fixed line, have access to competitive services; and * That the level of the PAC is fair, non-discriminatory and reasonably derived from costs.
1.4 Ofcomís approach to regulation is to operate with a bias against intervention, but with a willingness to intervene firmly, promptly and effectively where required. Ofcom is also committed to seeking the least intrusive regulatory mechanism to achieve its policy objectives.
1.5 A voluntary undertaking does not carry the legal weight of a regulatory requirement. If BT and/or Kingston were to renege on their commitments, which Ofcom does not anticipate, Ofcom retains the discretion to conduct a formal market review and consider the imposition of regulatory remedies.