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

Condition 4

NUMBERING ARRANGEMENTS

4.1  The Director may determine a Specified Numbering Scheme (the “Scheme”) in accordance with the National Numbering Conventions (referred to in this Condition as the “Conventions”) published in accordance with paragraph 4.5 and he will allocate Numbers from this Scheme to the Licensee in accordance with the Conventions. The Director shall, at the request from time to time of the Licensee and in accordance with the Conventions, allocate to it:

(a) such quantity of additional Numbers as it may require; and

(b) such specific Numbers as it may request and which the Director is satisfied are not required for other purposes.

4.2  The Licensee shall adopt a Numbering Plan for such Numbers as the Director may allocate to it from time to time in accordance with the Conventions. It shall prior to being notified of such allocation furnish details of the Numbering Plan to the Director, and keep him informed of material changes to the Numbering Plan as they occur. The Licensee shall also furnish details of the Numbering Plan together with any material changes to that Numbering Plan on request to any other person having a reasonable interest. Except where the Director agrees otherwise, the Numbering Plan shall be consistent with the Conventions published in accordance with paragraph 4.5. If the Numbering Plan is not consistent with those Conventions, the Director may direct the Licensee to adopt and furnish him with a new Numbering Plan or to take such other reasonable remedial action which does not cause undue inconvenience to the Licensee’s customers, as may be necessary to ensure consistency.

4.3  The Licensee shall install, maintain and adjust its switched Applicable Systems so that those Systems route Messages and otherwise operate in accordance with the Numbering Plan. The Licensee shall not use Numbers other than those allocated to it from the Scheme except with the written consent of the Director.

4.4—(a) The Licensee shall provide to the Director, on request, such information about its operations under its Numbering Plan as he may reasonably require to administer the Scheme and in particular on:

(i) the percentages of Numbers in significant ranges which have already been allocated to end-users or which for other reasons are unavailable for further allocation;

(ii) any allocation of blocks of Numbers to any person for purposes other than end use;

(iii) Numbers whose use has been transferred at an end-user’s request to another Operator; and

(iv) the Licensee’s current forecasts of all of the above matters.

(b) The Licensee shall not be required to provide information about individual end-user customers.

(c) In making any such request the Director shall ensure that no undue burden is imposed on the Licensee in procuring and furnishing such information and, in particular, that the Licensee is not required to procure or furnish information which would not normally be available to it, unless the Director is satisfied that such information is essential to the administration of the Scheme.

4.5—(a) The Conventions referred to in this Condition will be a set of principles and rules published from time to time by the Director after consultation with Interested Parties who are members of the Telecommunications Numbering and Addressing Body and, if deemed appropriate, with end-users.

(b) In consulting the said Interested Parties, the Director shall afford a reasonable period, not being less than 28 days, for them to make representations, and he shall take the said representations into account when publishing the Conventions. The Conventions shall govern the specification and application of the Scheme and the Numbering Plan of the Licensee and may also include such other matters relating to the use and management of Numbers as (but not limited to):

(i) criteria and procedures relating to the application for, allocation of and withdrawal of Numbers;

(ii) dialling plans;

(iii) access codes;

(iv) prefixes;

(v) standard ways of recording Numbers for convenience or ease of use, such as the grouping of digits in Numbers in particular lengths;

(vi) methods of enabling end-users to understand the meaning implicit in Numbers or other dialled digits, and in particular the rate at which a call to a particular Number will be chargeable; and

(vii) arrangements for the transfer of Numbers between Operators as a result of Portability.

(c) The Director may from time to time amend or withdraw a Convention already published, after consultation with Interested parties who are members of the Telecommunications Numbering and Addressing Body. The Licensee shall not be required to comply with any such amendment or withdrawal unless the Licensee has been given a reasonable period of notice, such notice not being less than three months. Numbers allocated to the Licensee may only be withdrawn after similar consultation and notice, and the Director shall consult end-users affected by such withdrawal. Subject to overriding national interests, or where there is no alternative solution available, the power to withdraw Numbers shall not apply to any Numbers which the Director has approved from time to time as part of a specific service of the Licensee, which, as a result of investment by the Licensee, has a recognised identity and quality associated with that particular Number and which the Licensee is using and plans to continue to use.

4.6  In deciding on the details of and any subsequent changes to the Scheme and the Conventions, and when making or changing Number allocations within the Scheme or making determinations under this Condition, the Director shall ensure that the Scheme complies with the Conventions and shall have regard to:

(a) the need for sufficient Numbers to be made available, having regard to the anticipated growth in demand for telecommunication services, together with the need for good husbandry of that supply at any time;

(b) the need to ensure Compatibility with the Numbering Plans adopted or to be adopted by other public telecommunication operators;

(c) the convenience and preferences of end-users;

(d) the requirements of effective competition;

(e) the practicability of implementing the Conventions with respect to licensed systems by the date when the Conventions are intended to apply;

(f) any costs of inconvenience imposed on the Licensee, other network operators, end-users and other Interested Parties (including those overseas);

(g) any relevant international agreements, recommendations or standards;

(h) the views of the Licensee and other Interested Parties; and

(i) any other matters he regards as relevant.

4.7  The Licensee shall not, unless the Director consents otherwise, charge any person for a Number which is allocated to him (other than a coveted Number allocated to a person who is not a public telecommunications operator at the request of such a person), but nothing in this Condition shall preclude the Licensee from recovering from the operator of a Relevant System the reasonable costs associated with allocating Numbers to and routing calls to that System; save that in the case of any dispute or difference as to those costs the Director may determine them and the Licensee shall not be obliged so to allocate Numbers and route calls unless such operator agrees to bear the costs so determined.

4.8  For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that this Condition applies notwithstanding any arrangements for numbering arising by virtue of any agreement made following negotiations pursuant to Condition 1, or any agreement made pursuant to Part A of this Licence. But nothing in this paragraph shall affect the operation of any such agreements entered into before the coming into force of this Licence.

4.9  The Numbers to which this Condition applies are Numbers:

(a) of a class described in ITU-T Recommendation E.161, E.164, E.166 or F.69 or their functional successors; or

(b) which are of a class described in ITU-T Recommendation X.121 or X.122 and which include any data network identification code which has been specified by the Director for the purposes of this Licence and described in a list kept for that purpose by the Director and made available by him for inspection by the general public.