Paris, 21 May 2001
Extension of call-by-call carrier selection and pre-selection to local calls
Call for comments on the conditions of implementation
The purpose of this call for comments is to receive the opinions of all interested persons on ART's proposals regarding the conditions and timetables for the implementation of carrier selection for local calls under call-by-call selection and pre-selection.
These proposals are the fruit of work led by ART in a working group created especially for this purpose and which brought together all interested operators, as well as of an initial consultation on a working document made public on 6 March 2001.
Following this call for comments, ART will adopt a decision defining the conditions and timetables for implementing call-by-call selection and pre-selection for local calls in application of article L. 36-6 of the Post and Telecommunications Code.
Organisation of the call for comments
Players are invited to submit to ART their opinion on these proposals by Tuesday 12 June 2001 at the latest, to the following address:
Service Interconnection et Nouvelles technologies
Autorité de régulation des télécommunications
7, square Max Hymans
75730 Paris Cedex 15
France
Comments may also be submitted by e-mail to the following address: identified as being a "Réponse à l'appel à commentaires sur l'extension de la sélection du transporteur aux appels locaux".
ART reserves the right to publish all or part of the responses it receives, unless otherwise stipulated by the author. In this case, the author is invited to place confidential elements in an appendix.
For more information, contact Mr. Gweltas Quentrec, Access and interconnection services manager, on +33 (0)1 40 47 71 40 or by e-mail to .
Introduction
During the discussion process begun in 1997 to define the conditions for introducing call-by-call carrier selection, players considered that the initial conditions for the development of competing networks were such that they would not be able to collect local calls under economically viable conditions. Therefore, for this first phase of the development of competition, they requested that local calls be excluded from the services which might be selected by future carriers.
In this context, ART considered it necessary that local loop operators appearing in the list established in application of paragraph 7 of article L. 36-7 of the Post and Telecommunications Code be obliged to propose a call sorting offer in their interconnection catalogue and for the implementation of carrier selection.
ART decision no. 97-345 dated 17 October 1997 is still applicable both for call-by-call selection and for pre-selection. In both cases, the local loop operator routes to the carrier only those calls intended for called parties outside the local exchange; it keeps and routes those calls terminating inside the local exchange.
The current stage of development of the technical and economic conditions of interconnection (related in particular to the development of the interconnection of network operators at subscriber switches of France Telecom's network) is such that telephony service providers can prepare to launch carrier selection service offers which will include local call routing inside local exchanges.
ART took this development into consideration during work done on France Telecom's interconnection catalogue in 2000. At that point, all players expressed the desire to include local calls in carrier selection and that the interconnection offer appearing in the interconnection catalogue be adapted accordingly.
Thus, France Telecom's interconnection catalogue for 2001, which was approved by ART, includes such an offer which is to be implemented during the fourth quarter of 2001.
In order to prepare for the introduction of this offer, ART formed a multi-lateral working group which met on 8 February and 8 March 2001 to define the conditions of implementation. A working document examining the various possible options was sent on 6 March to all members of this group. ART has received seven contributions to this document.
On the basis of these works, ART's departments have drafted a number of proposals which are to be included in an ART decision defining the conditions and timetables for implementing carrier selection for local calls.
The aim of this call for comments is to give players the opportunity to submit their analysis and/or comments on these proposals prior to ART adopting such a decision.
At the same time, ART will hold specific discussions with consumer associations representing the telecommunications market in order to evaluate the impact of these proposals on relations between operators and consumers.
Legal framework
Article D. 99-16 of the Post and Telecommunications Code, as amended by decree no. 99-922 dated 27 October 1999 regarding carrier pre-selection, states that the interconnection catalogue of operators included in the list drafted in application of paragraph 7 of article L.36-7 of the Post and Telecommunications Code must include a call-by-call selection offer and a pre-selection offer to their network.
This article also states that in application of article L. 36-6, Autorité de régulation des télécommunications is responsible for determining the services concerned by the previous paragraph as well as the conditions and the timetables for implementing call-by-call carrier selection and pre-selection.
Therefore, ART is responsible for determining the means and timetables for implementing carrier selection for local calls under the two carrier selection mechanisms, that is call-by-call selection and pre-selection.
The adoption of such a decision in application of article L. 36-6 also supposes:
- prior to its adoption, that the Commission consultative des réseaux et services de télécommunications be consulted
- for its application, that it be approved by the Minister of Telecommunications
Proposals on the conditions of implementation
The proposals described above affect the conditions and timetables for implementing carrier selection for local calls. They reflect the analysis of ART departments at this stage based on comments made by players on this working document with respect to the options which have been identified by the working group and which were presented in the working document published on 6 March 2001.
These proposals deal with the following questions:
1. the joint introduction of local call selection as part of call-by-call selection and pre-selection
2. contractual relations with regard to end clients when introducing these new services
3. the order-taking procedures between operators for taking orders and handling requests
4. the date of introduction
5. the number of operators which might be pre-selected by each client
6. the costs and tariffs of corresponding interconnection services
1. Joint introduction of the call-by-call selection mechanism
One of the questions discussed by players during working group meetings dealt with simultaneously extending carrier selection to local calls for both call-by-call selection and pre-selection.
Indeed, in opposition to the requests of other operators and to what is included in its interconnection catalogue for 2001, France Telecom asks that this extension affect only the pre-selection mechanism.
Analyses done by ART departments show that introduction of call-by-call carrier selection for local calls is necessary to ensure consumers can choose from among competing carriers and to encourage the entry of competing carriers on the local call market.
Indeed, the fact that clients can currently pre-select only one operator means that upon extension (Cf. chapter 5), clients may only be able to choose the carrier already pre-selected for national, fixed-to-mobile and international calls for pre-selection of local calls. The introduction of call-by-call selection for local calls as well as pre-selection is therefore necessary to guarantee that consumers having subscribed to the pre-selection service do indeed have several carriers to choose from.
Moreover, over 3 million clients have already subscribed to call-by-call selection compared with some one million for pre-selection. A substantial number of call-by-call selection clients have also made specific investments to acquire terminals allowing them to dial call-by-call selection numbers for various types of calls in order to benefit from a wide choice of carriers.
The extension of call-by-call selection to local calls is therefore necessary to allow consumers having chosen call-by-call carrier selection to benefit from the effects of competition on the transport of local calls. It must also allow those carriers having targeted this category of consumer to propose offers including local call routing.
In this respect, it is important to note that all European countries having introduced pre-selection for local calls had also previously introduced call-by-call selection for this same category of calls, as shown by the table below.
Degree of openness to competition in Europe of the various categories of calls accessible via carrier selection (Sources: 6th report of the European Commission on the implementation of telecommunications regulations / ART)
Proposal: The extension of carrier selection to local calls must include the joint introduction of call-by-call selection and pre-selection.
2. Contractual relations with clients
Call-by-call selection and pre-selection suppose that there will be contractual relations between:
- the client and the local loop operator
- the carrier and the local loop operator
- the client and the carrier
The extension of the scope of services provided under each of these two mechanisms will affect each of these relations and may require that current contracts with current clients be modified. It is therefore important to determine whether the conditions for changing these contractual relations should be covered by specific rules when extending carrier selection to local calls. These rules could be presented as recommendations or conditions linked to order-taking procedures between operators when implementing these new services in interconnection.
In either case, the definition of such rules would not prejudice the application of the regulations under the Code de la consommation.
The analysis below from ART departments at this stage distinguishes between the extension of current call-by-call selection and pre-selection contracts to include local calls and the signing of new contracts for services including local calls.
2.1 Extending current contracts
It appears necessary that we appreciate the potential threat to the security of contractual relations between carriers and their clients when the services offered are extended to include local calls. We also need to determine whether it would therefore be appropriate to apply specific measures to limit these risks.
In this respect, it is important to emphasise that clients who do not wish to see their contracts modified would be justified in refusing to pay for the new services for which they would be billed. This should limit the risk of abuse with respect to consumers.
Still, analysis must take into account the specificity of the local call market and in particular the relative importance of this category of calls in consumers' invoices, especially for residential and business clients—small office-home office (SOHO—which are generally less well informed of changing services and tariffs for their telecommunications services. Thus, the appreciation of the risks of abuse seem in this case different from the case of extending carrier selection to fixed-to-mobile calls which was done simultaneously for all operators and all their clients in November 2000.
Thus, it appears necessary that we evaluate the effective possibility for clients to refuse to transfer routing of their local calls to the operators of which they are already clients.
This evaluation must distinguish between the specifics of contractual relations between carriers and their clients in call-by-call selection and pre-selection.
2.2 Pre-selection
In the case of pre-selection, the line holder has signed a contract which authorises the operator to order pre-selection from the local loop operator to which the client is connected. Once pre-selection has been implemented, pre-selectable calls (national, international and fixed-to-mobile) are routed by the carrier in a totally transparent way to the user. The extension of pre-selection to local calls will therefore lead the carrier to transparently route all calls for the client, except for calls to non-geographic numbers and certain specific services provided by the local loop operator (directory service, after-sales service, etc.).
Therefore, it appears necessary that users be clearly informed of the consequences—in particular with regard to tariffs—of extending pre-selection to local calls. This information must also allow them to remove or adapt paid pricing options related to the local call routing by their local loop operator.
Moreover, in order to ensure that clients can refuse to extend their contract to local calls, it seems indispensable that carriers be required to obtain the prior consent of their current clients for this extension.
This obligation, which is consistent with the representative relationship established with pre-selected clients, must also allow them to present necessary proof in the event of a subsequent challenge by the client of the effectiveness of his/her consent.
Proposal:
Pre-selection operators are responsible for obtaining prior consent from each client to order the extension of pre-selection to local calls.
ART also recommends that operators inform their clients beforehand of the consequences—in particular with regard to tariffs—of extending the pre-selection contract to include local calls and of the possible consequences of this extension on the services provided by their local loop operator.
However, it would be useful to carefully examine the legal forms which such proof of consent might take and to evaluate their impact on the costs which will be incurred by the carriers in obtaining and archiving it. Operators have offered several possible solutions, such as agreements using electronic signatures.
Players are invited to comment on this point. We ask that they give their analysis of the following:
- any risk of unfair practices with respect to consumers
- the simplicity of offering consumers the possibility of extending their current pre-selection contract
- the costs and timetables for implementation
2.3 Call-by-call selection
In the case of call-by-call selection, signing a contract with a carrier is not sufficient for access to be provided to the operator's services because the effective implementation of access to these services requires that at each call, the client dial the prefix of the supplier. The consent of the client is therefore guaranteed by the need to make a choice at each call.
Thus, the extension of current call-by-call selection contracts to include local calls does not necessarily require that any specific rules be defined.
Still, it seems necessary that operators clearly inform their current clients of the extension of the scope of calls accessible via their prefix, and more particularly those clients who benefit from "automatic" selection of their calls through the pre-programming of their terminal equipment (switches, boxes).