Communications Bill - Clause 69 - Permitted subject-matter of access-related conditions
Communications Bill
5:15 pm
Dr Kim Howells (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Pontypridd, Labour)
I know that it will be deeply unfashionable, Mr. Atkinson, but I shall deal with clause 69.
The preceding group of clauses—61 and 68—dealt with universal service obligations, the way in which universal services are to be determined and how that provision is to be assured throughout the United Kingdom. We now turn to access-related conditions. As hon. Members will recall, under clause 42 access-related conditions will be imposed case-by-case on individuals or communications providers and persons who make associated facilities available. They are unlike the general conditions, which apply to all communications providers or all providers of a particular description.
The conditions can be imposed on any communications provider or persons who make available associated facilities—in certain cases, they can be imposed on any person—where that is necessary to meet the objectives of the EC communications directives in respect of securing access.
The clause sets out the permissible content of access-related conditions. There are four permissible types of access-related conditions. First, Ofcom may set access-related conditions for the purpose of
ensuring a level of network access and interoperability that will secure efficiency, sustainable competition and the greatest possible benefit to end users. I will try to link my answers to hon. Members' questions to those conditions. Clause 70 provides more specifically for types of conditions within the category.
Secondly, Ofcom may set access-related conditions to secure the sharing of apparatus or of costs incurred by those to whom the electronic communications code applies, in cases in which there is no viable alternative. That enables Ofcom to mandate the sharing of infrastructure and other facilities where is no viable alternative.
We have heard a great deal about global unbundling. As someone who recently has an ADSL link in my constituency of Pontypridd, and who has got it to work—after a month—I want to say that the point made by the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) bears making again—although perhaps not at the same length. It is a real problem trying to get enough businesses to realise the virtues of broadband and to come together in order to get access to it.
The hon. Member for Lichfield asked me about promoting broadband. I believe that the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam said that content is the most important element or variable in the equation—if he did not say that, he should have done. Call me old fashioned, but I cannot see why anyone would want to get broadband unless there was something to watch or access on it or unless it was going to provide a superior service. Content is important.
The hon. Member for Lichfield is right: we have to do a great deal to educate people about the virtues. I do not normally think that the role of Government includes bailing out private companies, so my next point may come as a surprise. Ofcom probably has a role to play in relation to the functions of promoting media literacy, which were dealt with in clause 10. It has some remit for doing that.