The Telecommunications (Licence Modification) (Mobile Public Telecommunication Operators) Regulations 1999

7.  For condition 23 there shall be substituted the following condition— U.K.

“ PROVISION OF SPECIAL FACILITIES RELATING TO CHATLINE AND MESSAGE SERVICES U.K.

23.1   The Licensee shall comply or shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that Service Providers who provide telecommunication services which are provided by means of the Applicable Systems comply with any direction made under this paragraph which requires the Licensee to make available such of the facilities listed in paragraph 23.2 as are specified in the direction. A direction under this paragraph shall be made by the Director after consultation with the Licensee and shall specify only facilities which the Director considers it will be technically and economically practicable for the Licensee or such a Service Provider to provide. The direction shall specify the date by which each facility is to be provided and the class or description of customer (whether described by reference to area or otherwise) to whom it is to be provided and shall be subject to such conditions as the Director thinks fit.

23.2   The facilities referred to in paragraph 23.1 are:

(a) the provision to any customer who requests it, and who is charged by the Licensee or a Service Provider for voice telephony services provided by means of the Applicable Systems, of a bill or invoice showing, by reference to the number used to access the service, and the date and time on which access was obtained, the amount of any charge imposed by the Licensee or a Service Provider for a telephone call to any service to which this Condition applies;

(b) the notification to such a customer who requests it, as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any event not later than 28 days after such request, of:

(i) the date on which the total charges accrued within the standard billing period of the Licensee or a Service Provider for voice telephony services and any other service to be included in the bill or invoice for such services exceed an amount specified by that customer being an amount, or one of a number of amounts, from time to time specified by the Licensee as being suitable for the purpose; or

(ii) the date on which the aggregate charges accrued in any such period in respect of services to which this Condition applies exceed an amount determined from time to time by the Director; and

(c) the barring, by means of apparatus forming part of the Applicable Systems, on request by any such customer, of access from any Exchange Line specified by that customer and in respect of which that customer is the customer of the Licensee, to all services to which this Condition applies.

23.3   The services to which this Condition applies are those Chatline Services and Message Services in respect of which:

(a) the person providing the service obtains the whole or any part of his revenue from the Licensee (or, where that person is the Licensee, that part of the Licensee’s business which provides the service is credited with revenue from that part of its business which conveys the Messages comprised in, or resulting from the provision of, the service); and

(b) the person responsible for paying the charges for the service is billed for them by the Licensee or by a Service Provider and the bill includes charges in respect of the generality of telecommunication services provided to that person by means of the Applicable Systems.;”