Regulation 4 Modification of the BT licence

The conditions of the BT licence are hereby modified as follows—

(a)

in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 (definitions, interpretations and transitional provisions relating to the conditions in Schedule 1)—

(i)

in sub-paragraph (w) (definition of Private Circuit) there shall be added at the end the following tailpiece—

“and a “Relevant Private Circuit” means a Private Circuit, not being a Private Circuit provided by the Licensee for another public telecommunications operator, where—

(i)

at least one Network Termination Point of which is located within the United Kingdom and all the network termination points of that circuit, and of any half circuit to which it is connected, are located within the European Economic Community; and

(ii)

the agreement between the Licensee and the user to provide the Private Circuit does not provide for messages to be conveyed thereby to be routed via a satellite link (notwithstanding that they may be so conveyed);”; and

(ii)

after sub-paragraph (ee) (definition of the United Kingdom) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—

“(eeA)

“users” means end users and service providers, including telecommunications organizations where the latter are engaged in providing services which are or may be provided also by others;”;

(b)

in condition 16—

(i)

in the headpiece of paragraph 16.1 at the beginning there shall be inserted “In relation to services other than the provision of Relevant Private Circuits,”;

(ii)

in the headpiece of paragraph 16.3 after “notice” there shall be inserted “referred to in paragraph 16.1(a)”; and

(iii)

after paragraph 16.3A there shall be inserted the following—

“16.3B

The Licensee shall publish by notice in accordance with the presentation given in paragraphs A to C of Schedule 1 to the Telecommunications (Leased Lines) Regulations 1993 information on offerings on technical characteristics, tariffs and supply and usage conditions in respect of Relevant Private Circuits.The information shall be published in the manner provided for in paragraph 16.3 above. Where the information concerns new types of Relevant Private Circuit offerings, it shall be published as soon as possible, and no later than two months before the implementation of the offering.Changes in existing offerings shall be published as soon as possible and, unless the Director agrees otherwise, no later than two months before the implementation.The supply conditions published pursuant to this paragraph shall include at least the elements defined in paragraph C of Schedule 1 to the Telecommunications (Leased Lines) Regulations 1993.”;

(c)

after condition 46 there shall be inserted the following condition—

“ Condition 46A

Relevant Private Circuits

46A.1

The Licensee shall provide a minimum set of Relevant Private Circuits in accordance with Schedule 2 to the Telecommunications (Leased Lines) Regulations 1993.The Licensee must ensure, if it provides other Relevant Private Circuits beyond the minimum set, that such provision does not impede the provision of the minimum set.

46A.2

The Licensee shall not terminate an existing offering of a Relevant Private Circuit unless—

(a)

the offering has continued for a reasonable period of time; and

(b)

the Licensee has consulted with the users affected.

Without prejudice to any other remedy or right of appeal which the user may have in law or pursuant to contract or these conditions, where the user does not agree with the termination date as envisaged by the Licensee, he may bring the case before the Director.

46A.3

The Licensee shall not take for reasons of the alleged failure of the user of a Relevant Private Circuit to comply with the usage conditions any measure (including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the refusal to provide a Relevant Private Circuit, the interruption of the provision of Relevant Private Circuits or the reduction of the availability of Relevant Private Circuit features) unless—

(a)

the measure is a specified measure authorized by the Director in the case of a defined infringement of usage conditions; or

(b)

the Licensee has been notified pursuant to regulation 7(3) of the Telecommunications (Leased Lines) Regulations 1993 that the Director consents to the taking of the measure.

46A.4

The Licensee shall ensure that tariffs for Relevant Private Circuits follow the basic principles of cost orientation and transparency in accordance with the following rules—

(a)

tariffs for Relevant Private Circuits shall be independent of the type of application which the users of the Relevant Private Circuit simplement;

(b)

tariffs for Relevant Private Circuits shall normally contain the following elements—

(i)

an initial connection charge; and

(ii)

a periodic rental charge, that is to say, a flat-rate element, and when other tariff elements are applied, these must be transparent and based on objective criteria;

(c)

tariffs for Relevant Private Circuits apply to the facilities provided between Network Termination Points at which the user has access to the Relevant Private Circuits.

For Relevant Private Circuits provided by more than one telecommunications organization, half-circuit tariffs, that is to say, from one Network Termination Point to a hypothetical mid-circuit point, can be applied.

46A.5

The Licensee shall formulate and put in practice, by 31st December 1993 at the latest, a cost accounting system suitable for the implementation of paragraph 46A.4.Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, that system shall include the following elements—

(a)

the cost of Relevant Private Circuits shall in particular include the direct costs incurred by the Licensee for setting up, operating and maintaining them, and for marketing and billing them; and

(b)

common costs, that is to say, costs which can neither be directly assigned to Relevant Private Circuits nor to other activities, are allocated as follows—

(i)

whenever possible, common cost categories shall be allocated based upon direct analysis of the origin of the costs themselves;

(ii)

when direct analysis is not possible, common cost categories shall be allocated based upon an indirect linkage to another cost category or group of cost categories for which a direct assignment or allocation is possible, and such indirect linkage shall be based on comparable cost structures;

(iii)

when neither direct nor indirect measures of cost allocation can be found, the cost category shall be allocated based upona general allocator computed by using the ratio of all expenses directly or indirectly assigned or allocated, on the one hand, to Relevant Private Circuits and, on the other hand, to other services.

After 31st December 1993, other cost accounting systems may be applied only if they are suitable for the implementation of paragraph 46A.4 and have as such been approved by the Director for application by the Licensee.”; and

(d)

in condition 53—

(i)

at the beginning of paragraph 53.3 there shall be inserted “Subject to paragraph 53.3A,”;

(ii)

after paragraph 53.3 there shall be inserted the following—

“53.3A

In relation to Relevant Private Circuits, the Licensee shall not beheld to have failed to comply with these Conditions if the Licensee takes the following measures in order to safeguard the security of network operations during the period when an emergency situation prevails—

(a)

the interruption of the service;

(b)

the limitation of service features; or

(c)

the denial of access to the service,

provided that the following conditions are satisfied—

(i)

the Licensee makes every reasonable endeavour to ensure that service is maintained to all users; and

(ii)

the Licensee takes as soon as reasonably possible all reasonable steps to notify the users and the Director of the beginning and the end of the emergency as well as the nature and extent of temporary service restrictions;

and in this paragraph, an emergency situation means an exceptional case of force majeure, which, without prejudice to the generality thereof, includes extreme weather, flood, lightning or fire, industrial action or lockouts, war, military operations, or civil disorder.”;

(iii)

after paragraph 53.5A there shall be inserted the following—

“53.5B

Nothing in these conditions shall prevent the Licensee, where it considers it unreasonable to provide a Relevant Private Circuit in response to a particular request under its tariffs and supply conditions published pursuant to paragraph 16.3B, from varying those conditions in that case with the consent of the Director.”; and

(iv)

in the headpiece of paragraph 53.12 between “40” “and 47” there shall be inserted “46A.3 to 46A.5”.