Mr Ed Richards
Chief Executive
Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA
18th September 2008
Dear Mr Richards
RE: Formal objection and complaint by evaris Limited against Kingston Communications PLC (KCOM) to its proposed new tariffing arrangements permitting “bundled” call and business line rental services for businesses served by KCOM within the Hull area where Ofcom has designated KCOM to have Significant Market Power (SMP) for both lines and calls.
REF:
http://www.kingstoncommunications.com/mycalls/Please accept this correspondence from evaris Limited as an official objection and formal complaint to the proposed “bundled” tariffing changes proposed by Kingston Communications (KCOM), due to come into force on October 1st 2008, which Evaris believes gives KCOM a significant, unfair competitive advantage as Evaris believes that KCOM's proposed changes to be in breach of OFCOM oversight in terms of SMP of KCOM in the Hull area and is therefore “illegal” and cites the following reasons for raising this objection:
•It is the opinion of evaris that by providing “bundled” calls and line services, the tariff changes proposed by KCOM is a deliberate attempt by KCOM to remove competition from the Hull area from other operators (OLO’s) and for Ofcom to permit such changes would be in direct contradiction of Ofcom’s own terms of reference in ensuring as comprehensive, competitive UK telecommunications market for Hull as possible.
•As the services are not replicable by any other service provider and through Ofcom’s own consultation paper published in 2005 entitled “ The replicability of BT’s regulated retail business services”
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/bt_retail/ Section 1.3 concludes that where products could not be replicated it would not be fair to allow BT to offer such products. Ofcoms own interpretation and definition clearly sets a precedent that should be applied to the Hull area where there is no effective competition through a lack of published LLU pricing available to OLO’s and ISP’s in order for them to make a comprehensive, commercial assessment as to the viability of the Hull market.
•In Section 1.7 of the same consultation paper, Ofcom concludes that only where Carrier Pre Selection (CPS) and Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) products exist that replication could also exist.
Neither CPS nor WLR Services are currently available within the KCOM Hull area and therefore the capability to replicate services does not currently exist.
In order for evaris to consider withdrawing its complaint, Ofcom must either:
•Not permit KCOM to proceed with its proposed tariff changes
OR
•Remedy the situation by enabling OLO’s to provide CPS and WLR services in the Hull area via KCOM either on a technical or administrative basis
Ofcom should be aware that it has previously, and in evaris’s view, acted improperly, by previously allowing KCOM to “bundle” lines and calls for its domestic Hull customers. Evaris therefore wishes to make a retrospective objection and complaint on the grounds stated above based on the principle of “replicability” and since Ofcom deems KCOM to have SMP in the provision of both domestic lines and calls by Ofcom, subsequently allowing KCOM to bundle domestic service lines and calls together, is in direct contradiction to Ofcom’s own assessment of the Hull area and therefore illegal.
Evaris also feels that information provided by KCOM in aiding Ofcom make an open and honest assessment to the Hull market does not reflect the true picture on the ground and makes specific reference to Ofcoms assessment and removal of SMP on KCOM for the provision of all retail leased line in the Hull area since in 99.9% of occasions these are all supplied and provisioned by KCOM at the retail level, even though retail billing of the leased line or “tail” to the customer is made by BT or Cable and Wireless since neither BT or Cable and Wireless provides physical connectivity beyond their respective points of Interconnect with KCOM Hull.
Evaris looks forward to receiving Ofcom's response to its complaint at the earliest opportunity.
Yours sincerely,
SIGN THE PETITION AT
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/OfcomHull/IF YOU DONT YOU ONLY HAVE YOURSELVES TO BLAME FOR THE LACK OF COMPETITION IN HULL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
