Tell Them What You Think ^beta

1.1 This consultation sets out our proposals for charges controls on Wholesale Line Rental and related services.

1.2 Wholesale Line Rental ('WLR') is a product Openreach supplies to Communication Providers ('CPs'), allowing them to rent access lines on wholesale terms, and resell the lines to customers. This product gives consumers the opportunity to choose alternative suppliers who can provide them with access and, in almost all cases, calls service and has been a key aspect of increased competition in fixed narrowband services.

1.3 In the current consultation Review of Fixed Narrowband Services Wholesale Markets ('the Wholesale Review'), Ofcom has confirmed the continuing need for WLR as one of the key remedies addressing BT's significant market power ('SMP') in the market for the provision of exchange lines.

1.4 In the Wholesale Review we are consulting on our view that there is a single market for wholesale analogue exchange lines rather than separate markets for business and residential wholesale analogue exchange lines defined by the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) in 2003. As a consequence, we are proposing to modify the structure of the charge controls to reflect this revised view of the market and the use of the regulated services.

1.5 We are proposing to move from rental charge controls on both a residential and a business lines to a single control on a new core WLR rental service (based on revised WLR Basic service) which will be available to residential and business customers. Openreach will be free to continue to offer enhanced care services, such as its existing WLR Premium service, to customers and these will not be subject to specific charge controls. We also propose new charges for new line provision and the transfer of lines.

1.6 The proposed new controls would apply until March 2013.

Here are the documents we were able to locate that relate to this consultation: