The Telecommunications (Licence Modification) (Paging Operator Licences) Regulations 2000

Condition 3

ESSENTIAL INTERFACES

3.1  The Licensee shall take full account of such standards, if any, as are listed in the Official Journal of the European Communities as being suitable for the purposes of Interconnection.

3.2  The Director may, having first notified the Licensee of his proposal and given the Licensee not less than 28 days in which to make representations, specify an Essential Interface. In making such a specification the Director will consider whether the Relevant Standard is inappropriate for the particular application for any reason.

3.3  Where in pursuance of paragraph 3.2 the Director specifies an interface as an Essential Interface, and the Licensee thereafter makes that interface available to a Schedule 2 Public Operator, it shall do so in such a manner as it considers appropriate, but shall ensure such availability is in compliance with the Relevant Standard if the Schedule 2 Public Operator so requires.

3.4—(a) For the purposes of paragraph 3.3 “Relevant Standard” means:

(i) standards listed in the Official Journal of the European Communities, if any, as being suitable for the purposes of Interconnection, or in the absence of such standards;

(ii) standards adopted by European standardisation bodies such as the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) or the European Committee for Standardisation/European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CEN/CENELEC), or in the absence of such standards;

(iii) international standards or recommendations adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) or the International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC), or in the absence of such standards;

(iv) any other standard specified by the Director after notifying the Licensee of his proposal and allowing the Licensee adequate time, being not less than 28 days, in which to make representations, provided that the Director shall not specify a standard if an appropriate European or other international standard is expected to be promulgated within a reasonable time, including, by way of example, if the European Telecommunications Standards Institute have published a work programme for the development of such a standard;

to the extent that such a standard is necessary to ensure interoperability.

(b) Where in pursuance of paragraph 3.4(a)(iv) the Director specifies a standard as a Relevant Standard, he shall include in that Relevant Standard a technical specification, using all reasonable endeavours to obtain the agreement of the Licensee and other relevant licensees to a technical specification applicable to that Relevant Standard, being a specification defined if possible by reference to:

(i) standards listed in the Official Journal of the European Communities, if any, as being suitable for the purposes of Interconnection, or in the absence of such standards;

(ii) standards adopted by European standardisation bodies such as the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) or the European Committee for Standardisation/European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CEN/CENELEC), or in the absence of such standards;

(iii) international standards or recommendations adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) or the International Electrotechnical Committee (IEC).

3.5  Where the Director has been unable in accordance with paragraph 3.4(b) to secure the agreement of the Licensee and other relevant licensees to a technical specification within a period not exceeding 3 months from the date he first sought the agreement of the Licensee and other relevant licensees under that paragraph, the Director shall adopt for inclusion in the Relevant Standard an appropriate technical specification which has been promulgated by a recognised standards body, including, by way of example, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, or the British Standards Institute, or other such body as the Director considers to be representative of all relevant telecommunications interests and has notified the Licensee and other relevant licensees.

3.6  The Director shall specify a Relevant Standard in pursuance of paragraph 3.5 only if the owners of relevant intellectual property rights have agreed to grant any necessary licences in respect thereof to the Licensee on reasonable terms.

3.7  For the avoidance of doubt this Condition shall not:

(a) without prejudice to paragraph 3.3, prevent the Licensee using such interfaces as it considers appropriate in relation to the Applicable Systems; or

(b) where it makes available to a Schedule 2 Public Operator an interface which the Director has specified as an Essential Interface, require the Licensee to comply with the Relevant Standard if the Schedule 2 Public Operator does not require it to do so.

3.8  When implementing an Essential Interface, the Licensee shall not be obliged to conform with the Relevant Standard if to do so would necessitate the Licensee:

(i) acquiring apparatus, software or other goods or supplies of any kind, or implementing any operation, incompatible with, as the case may be, apparatus, software or such other goods or supplies already in use at the time, or the subject of contracts for their procurement for use, in connection with the Applicable Systems, or, in the case of an operation, incompatible with any other operation being carried out at the time in connection therewith; or

(ii) incurring any cost, or having to resolve technical difficulties, disproportionate to the benefits to be gained from the implementation of the Relevant Standard,

provided that the Licensee shall take reasonable steps to incorporate the Relevant Standard in its plans for network development, with a view to implementation of that Standard in connection with the Applicable Systems, but without the Licensee incurring any incremental expenditure which, but for the implementation of the Relevant Standard, would not have been incurred.

3.9  It is a precondition of any obligation on the Licensee under this Condition that an equivalent Condition to this Condition is included in the respective Licences of all Schedule 2 Public Operators running telecommunication systems that are connected to the Applicable Systems.