Clause 86 - Conditions about carrier selection
Communications Bill
8:55 am
Mr Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I confess that this is not an area of the Bill that the Joint Committee considered, so I am on my own here. I will follow my hon. Friends' lead.
My hon. Friend the Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford (Mr. Whittingdale) is a little more familiar with the introduction of carrier selection or pre-selection than I am. In this context, pre-selection is more prevalent than selection. My first question to the Minister is therefore about the time scale and the extent of the impact that pre-selection will have on individual users. There is a substantial difference between carrier pre-selection and selection. Pre-selection is the basis of a contract—at the moment, people can readily pre-select cable rather
than BT or other network providers—but I presume that selection means that there would be no pre-existing contract. Will carrier selection mean that we will all, from any telephone, have the opportunity to choose whatever network provider we desire; or will there have to be some kind of contractual relationship?
My second point is slightly more tortuous. It relates to the transposition of the provisions of the universal service directive into clause 86. The relationship is close, but article 19(2) of the directive allows for:
''User requirements for these facilities''—
by which is meant provision for interconnection—
''to be implemented on other networks or in other ways''.
Article 19 was originally about the public telephone network, and clause 86 is about public electronic communications networks and services. That is fine, because article 19 also refers to ''other networks''. However, the phrase ''or in other ways'' might not be covered by clause 86.
Article 19 refers to telephone numbers and individual calls, and the definition of ''relevant connection facility'' in clause 86(6) refers to the use of telephone numbers. That has a direct bearing on the question raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Ryedale about broadband. If, at some point, users' requirements suggest that interconnection and carrier selection are desired in relation to broadband facilities, it does not follow that those users will use telephone numbers. It does not follow that they will work on the basis set out in clause 86(6). However, article 19 clearly anticipates such a possibility because it uses the words,
''on other networks or in other ways.''
We have covered the other networks, but not the other ways.