Carrier Pre-Selection (CPS) is a mechanism that allows consumers who have a BT line to select, in advance, alternative communications providers to carry some or all of their telephone calls without having to dial a prefix.
1.2 This dispute is about the charge British Telecommunications plc (BT) makes to CPS operators (CPSOs) when it applies CPS to a line (except where CPS is provided in combination with Wholesale Line Rental (WLR), when a different charge applies). This charge is listed in BT’s Carrier Price List as “Set-Up – Switch change effected” and referred to in this document as the “CPS set-up charge”.
1.3 Ofcom has determined that BT has significant market power (SMP) in various narrowband wholesale markets and imposed a number of SMP conditions on BT including a requirement to provide CPS under SMP Condition AA8. This SMP condition, among other things, entitles BT to recover from other communications providers the reasonable costs it incurs in providing CPS.