This determination (the “Determination”) sets out our resolution to the dispute brought by Everything Everywhere Limited (“EE”) against British Telecommunications plc (“BT”). We refer to this dispute as the “Dispute” and we refer to EE and BT as the “Parties”.
The Dispute relates to the wholesale termination charges for calls to 03 numbers charged by BT to EE. BT issued Network Charge Change Notice 966 (“NCCN 966”) to originating communications providers (“OCPs”) on 3 August 2009, notifying them of its new wholesale termination charges for calls to 03 numbers, effective from 1 September 2009. The revised rate was aligned with the wholesale termination charges for calls to 0870 numbers as determined by Ofcom in its determination of June 2009 to resolve 0870 call termination rate disputes between BT and various operators (the “0870 Determination”).
On 10 September 2010, EE submitted the Dispute to Ofcom, claiming that the termination charges for calls to 03 numbers notified by BT via NCCN 966 were not fair and reasonable. EE considered that the wholesale termination charges for calls to 03 numbers should be the same as or similar to termination charges for calls to geographic 01 and 02 numbers.
Our powers and duties to resolve certain disputes are set out at sections 185-191 of the Communications Act 2003 (the “Act”). In accordance with section 186(4) of the Act, on 1 October 2010 we decided that it was appropriate for us to handle the Dispute. We informed the Parties of our decision and published details of the Dispute, including the following scope, on the Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin part of our website (the “CCEB”):
“The scope of the dispute is to determine whether it is fair and reasonable for BT to apply the wholesale termination charges for calls to 03 numbers originating on the EE mobile network and terminated on the BT fixed network that were notified by BT to EE in NCCN 966.”