Telecommunications (Open Network Provision) (Voice Telephony) Regulations 1998
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1998/1580 |
| Year | 1998 |
1998 No. 1580
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The Telecommunications (Open Network Provision) (Voice Telephony) Regulations 1998
Made 28th June 1998
Laid before Parliament 30th June 1998
Coming into force 21th July 1998
The Secretary of State, being a Minister designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in respect of measures relating to telecommuni cations, in exercise of the powers conferred on her by that section and of all other powers enabling her in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:—
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Telecommunications (Open Network Provision) (Voice Telephony) Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 21st July 1998.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Telecommunications Act 19843;
“the Commission” means the Commission of the European Communities;
“consumer” means any natural person who uses a publicly available telecommunications service for purposes which are outside his trade, business or profession;
“Data Protection Registrar” means the holder of the office originally established by section 3(1)(a) of the Data Protection Act 19844as the office of Data Protection Registrar;
“the Director” means the Director General of Telecommunications appointed under section 1 of the Act;
“directory information” means, in the case of directories, the name, address and telephone number of the subscriber and, in the case of a directory information service, may include the telephone number only of the subscriber or information that the telephone number of the subscriber may not be supplied;
“directory information service” means directory information provided over a telephone system;
“the EEA” means the European Economic Area;
“the EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17 March 1993;
“fixed publicly available telephone service” means the provision to end-users at fixed locations of a service for the originating and receiving of national and international calls, including voice telephony services and may include, in addition, access to emergency “112” services, the provision of operator assistance, directory services, provision of public pay-telephones, provision of service under special terms or provision of special facilities for customers with disabilities or with special social needs but does not include value added services provided over the public telephone system;
“fixed public telephone network” means the public switched telecommunications network which supports the transfer between network termination points at fixed locations of speech and 3.1 kHz bandwidth audio information, to support inter alia:
(a) voice telephony,
(b) facsimile Group III communications, in accordance with ITU-T Recommendations in the “T-series”,
(c) voice band data transmission via modems at a rate of at least 2,400 bit/s, in accordance with ITU-T Recommendations in the “V-series”; and
where access to the end-user’s network termination point is via a number or numbers in the national numbering plan;
“fixed public telephone system” means the telecommunication systems run by a person under a licence which has been granted under section 7 of the Act whether to a particular person, persons of a class or persons generally, and which form part of the fixed public telephone network and by means of which fixed publicly available telephone services are provided;
“the Interconnection Regulations” means the Telecommunications (Interconnection) Regulations 19975;
“licence” means a licence granted under section 7 of the Act;
“major office” means for the purpose of regulation 18(1)(b), the systemless service provider’s registered office and such other offices as the Director, having consulted the systemless service provider, may direct;
“mobile public telephone network” means the telecommunication systems run under licences whether granted under section 7 of the Act to a particular person or persons of a class by means of which publicly available mobile telephone services are provided at network termination points which are not at fixed locations;
“number portability” means a facility whereby subscribers who so request can retain their number on the fixed public telephone network at a specific location independent of the organisation providing service;
“the ONP Framework Directive” means Council Directive 90/387/EECon the establishment of the internal market for telecommunications services through the implementation of open network provision6as amended by European Parliament and Council Directive 97/51/EC7for the purpose of adaptation to a competitive environment in telecommunica tions;
“ONP Committee” means the Committee created by Article 9(1) of the ONP Framework Directive;
“operator having significant market power” means (i) a public operator which the Director has determined to be an operator having significant market power in accordance with regulation 6(1) below; or (ii) a systemless service provider which the Director has determined to be an operator having significant market power in accordance with regulation 6(2) below;
“process” means to obtain, record or hold data or information or to carry out any operation or set of operations on the data or information, including;
(a) organisation, storage, adaptation or alteration of the data or information;
(b) retrieval, consultation or use of the data or information;
(c) disclosure of the data or information by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available; or
(d) alignment, combination, blocking, erasing or destruction of the data or information;
and “processing” shall be interpreted accordingly;
“publicly available telephone services” means either fixed publicly available telephone services or publicly available mobile telephone services or both;
“publicly available mobile telephone services” means a telephony service whose provision consists, wholly or partly, in the establishment of radiocommunications to one mobile user, and makes use wholly or partly of a mobile public telephone network;
“public operator” means a person to whom a licence has been granted under section 7 of the Act authorising the running of a public telephone system and the provision of publicly available telephone services;
“public pay-telephone” means a telephone available to the general public for the use of which the means of payment are one or more of the following:—
(a) coins;
(b) credit cards;
(c) debit cards; and
(d) pre-payment cards;
“public telephone system” means telecommunication systems forming part of the fixed public telephone network or a mobile public telephone network;
“the 1997 Regulations” means the Telecommunications (Voice Telephony) Regulations 19978;
“relevant data protection legislation” means the Data Protection Act 1984 and from 24 October 1998 Directive 95/46/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data9and Directive 97/66/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector10;
“the Revised Voice Telephony Directive” means Directive 98/10/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council on the application of open network provision to voice telephony and on universal service for telecommunications in a competitive environment11;
“systemless service provider” means a person who provides publicly available telephone services but who does not run a telecommunication system within the meaning of section 4 of the Act by means of which such services are provided;
“subscriber” means a person who is party to a contract with the provider of publicly available telecommunications services for the supply of such services;
“the Terminal Equipment Regulations” means the Telecommunications Terminal Equipment Regulations 199212;
“universal service” means a defined minimum set of services of specified quality which is available to all users independent of their geographical location and, in the light of specific national conditions, at an affordable price;
“user” means a person using or requesting publicly available telecommunications services;
“the Voice Telephony Directive” means Directive 95/62/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council on the application of open network provision (ONP) to voice telephony13;
“voice telephony licence” means a licence granted under section 7 of the Act to a particular person or to persons of a class or to persons generally and which authorises the running of a public telephone system and the provision of publicly available telephone services; and
“voice telephony service” means a service available to the public for the commercial provision of direct transport of real-time speech via the public switched network or networks such that any user can use equipment connected to a network termination point at a fixed location to communicate with another user of equipment connected to another termination point.
(2) Any expression used in these Regulations which is also used in the Revised Voice Telephony Directive has the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in that Directive.
(3) Except where the context otherwise requires and subject to paragraphs (1) and (2), any expression used in these Regulations which is also used in the Act has the same meaning in these Regulations as it has in the Act.
EEA Agreement
3. Consequent upon the extension of the Voice Telephony Directive to the EEA by decision No 25/98 of the EEA Joint Committee which came into force on 1 April 1998, Regulations 1 to 3 and 9 of the 1997 Regulations and Voice Telephony Conditions VTD1, VTD8, VTD9 and VTD10 in Schedule 1 to those Regulations are...
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