The Telecommunications (Licence Modification)(Standard Schedules) Regulations 1999

Condition 28

NUMBER PORTABILITY U.K.

28.1  This Condition applies to the Licensee only to the extent that it is running a Fixed Public Telephone System by means of which it provides Fixed Publicly Available Telephone Services. U.K.

28.2  The Licensee shall provide Portability either to any Qualifying Operator, or in the capacity of a Qualifying Operator, on reasonable terms in accordance with the Functional Specification and with the following provisions provided that any charges for provision of such Portability shall be made by the Licensee in accordance with the following principles: U.K.

(a) subject always to the requirement of reasonableness, charges shall be based, unless the charges made by British Telecommunications plc for the provision of telecommunication services under Condition 69 of its Licence granted under section 7 of the Act shall be incremental costs, in which case the basis for charges shall be incremental costs, on the fully allocated costs of providing Portability unless the Donor and Recipient Operators shall have agreed another basis for charges, or the Director shall have determined, following an application by either or both Operators, that another basis for charges should be used;

(b) the Donor Operator shall make no charge in relation to its System Set-Up Costs;

(c) subject to sub-paragraph 28.2(b), the Recipient Operator shall pay charges based on the reasonable costs incurred by the Donor Operator in providing Portability with respect to each Number which, subject to sub-paragraph 28.2(d) may be paid by way of specific elements of the provision of the facility; and

(d) the Donor Operator shall make no specific charge based on Additional Conveyance Costs.

28.3  “ Qualifying Operator” means an Operator who: U.K.

(a) has notified the Licensee in writing that it requests the provision of Portability from the Licensee specifying the type or types and Extent of Portability so requested; and

(b) is able and willing to provide on reasonable terms and in accordance with the Functional Specification and these provisions the same type or types and Extent of Portability to the Licensee as it has sought,

and the Licensee shall be deemed to be acting in the capacity of a Qualifying Operator where the Licensee has requested in writing the provision of Portability from a Public Operator and has offered Portability to that Public Operator in accordance with sub-paragraphs 28.3(a) and 28.3(b) above.

28.4  For the purposes of this Condition the Extent of Portability means: U.K.

(a) in relation to Geographic Portability, the area or any specified part thereof within which the Licensee and Qualifying Operator are entitled to provide telecommunication services, provided that Portability may only be sought or offered throughout any such area or specified part thereof; and

(b) in relation to Non-Geographic Portability, the Numbers sought and offered by the party requesting Portability, together with a description of both the services offered and tariff-bands charged to parties calling such Numbers.

28.5  Where a notice for the purposes of paragraph 28.3 has been given, the Licensee or the Qualifying Operator may refer in writing to the Director for his determination any question as to the reasonableness of: U.K.

(a) the request for the provision of Portability, taking into account the technical and operational characteristics of the Licensee's Applicable Systems and, if relevant, those of the applicable systems of the Qualifying Operator;

(b) the Extent of Portability requested;

(c) the costs incurred in providing Portability;

(d) the categorisation of costs;

(e) the proposed use or use of a higher cost method in proposing to implement or implementing any aspect of Portability where a lower cost method could or ought to have been used;

(f) the charges to be made for providing Portability; and

(g) the basis for calculating such charges.

28.6  Before making any determination under paragraph 28.5 the Director shall consult with the Licensee and the relevant Qualifying Operators and with Interested Parties and take into account any representations made by them. U.K.

28.7  If requested in writing by the Director, the Licensee shall provide to the Director a record of each Number in relation to which it is providing Portability, specifying the relevant Qualifying Operator in each case. U.K.

28.8  Where the Licensee does not yet offer the facility of Number Portability on request to any of its Subscribers, the Licensee shall ensure that, with regard to any such Subscriber, for a reasonable period after that Subscriber has changed to a different supplier of telephone services either a telephone call to his old Number can be re-routed to his new Number for a reasonable fee or callers are given an indication of the new Number, without charging the called party for this service. U.K.