On 24 March 2005, Ofcom published a consultation document entitled Per-provider and per-customer line costs and charges for Carrier Pre-Selection and also included with that a draft Direction in which it set out proposed revised costs and charges for certain CPS facilities. Ofcom received six responses two of which were confidential. Respondents welcomed generally the proposed reductions to the per-provider and per-customer set up charges. BT agreed that the charges needed to be revised and, therefore, welcomed the clarity that the revised charges would bring about. CPS Providers, however, remained concerned that the proposed charges would not bring about real equivalence as, they stated, Ofcom set charges on the basis of cost causation and did not consider the pooling of these costs across all providers including BT. They argued that BT had no incentive to provide these facilities on a cost effective basis. To a certain extent, BT agreed. BT stated that it seemed sensible to consider charge controls in the future. CPS Providers also expressed disappointment that the proposed charges would not be backdated. They considered that BT should have backdated its charges voluntarily.
Ofcom has considered all of these factors – and the more detailed discussion set out in responses – in coming to its final conclusions and setting the charges that BT is permitted to levy for providing various CPS facilities. These charges are set out in the Direction at Annex 1. These revised charges should be implemented as soon as possible. Ofcom has, therefore, given its consent under section 49 of the Communications Act 2003 (the “Act”) for BT to implement these charges immediately. In the normal course of events, as set out in SMP services condition AA6(a), BT would be required to give ninety days’ notice. Ofcom considers, however, that this is not in the best interests of the industry or citizen-consumers. The consent is set out at Annex 2.