Clause 28 - Meaning of electronic communications networks and services
Communications Bill
10:30 am
Mr Andrew Robathan (Blaby, Conservative)
I can assure you that I shall not dwell on how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, Mr. Gale, although that is quite topical.
Chapter 1 of part 2 sets out the new regulatory framework for electronic communications largely according to the European Commission communications directives. Therefore, to a certain extent, it is not controversial, although we may have some discussion about the interpretation of the definitions in the clause. We are entering upon a technical subject in which my physics with chemistry O-level will, I am sure, come in very useful—as, indeed, will the time that the Minister for Tourism, Film and Broadcasting spent at Hornsey college of art.
We welcome the Minister for E-Commerce and Competitiveness to the Committee for the first time. He was not here last week, and it is nice that he has turned up. I was interested to learn that in 1986 he wrote a book or pamphlet entitled ''Broadband Communications: The Commercial Impact'', and another on ISDN. He used to work for a company called Ovum, a consultancy in computing and telecommunications, and was a major shareholder before he sensibly put the shares into a charitable trust. Those of us who stopped at chemistry O-level in 1966 look forward to him enlightening us on one or two technical issues.
Amendment No. 62—and the others in the group—tease more out of the definitions. We are concerned about gold-plating the definitions in the Bill. As drafted, the definition of ''electronic communications network'' includes apparatus comprised in the transmission system concerned; apparatus used for ''switching or routing'' the signals; and ''software and stored data'' used
''by the person providing the system and in association with it, for the conveyance of the signals''.
The amendment would simplify and clarify the definition by eliminating the words ''in association with'', which seem unnecessary and might make the definition dangerously wide. The amendment would eliminate the confusing duplication of the term ''apparatus'' by ensuring that the ''software and stored data'' referred to—the mention of ''data'' is for my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant)—is the software and data stored in exchanges to ensure that calls are properly routed. The clause currently allows regulation to spill over unpredictably into other areas—one area that might be affected is the billing system. The Government should bring certainty to the markets and encourage investment by clarifying what they want.
Amendment No. 217 to the definition of ''electronic communications service'' would represent or translate the wording of the framework directive. It would substitute the test of ''mainly'' for the test in the Bill of ''principal feature''. The distinction is important, because under the tests contained in the EU directive, a service can be regulated as an electronic communications service only if it consists wholly or mainly in the conveyance of signals.