04 OCT 193 16:15 DTI-IPIH
COMMERCIAL-IN-CONFIDENCE
DTI-TRIA
P.3
oftel; he felt they were worth making again:
i) Powers under the General Development Order (GDO) Hutchison's ability to operate their network is dependant the roll out of their base stations. They have met numerous problems in relation to the new GDO which they felt did not assist the operator, and regarded the environmental opposition to use of their powers as having strengthened considerably over the last year. Lord Derwent referred to the recent Cairn Papple Hill case and said that although Hutchison recognised the environmental interests they would appreciate "behind the scenes" assistance from DTI where possible. I said that I had indeed had numerous telephone conversations with colleagues in the Scottish office and Planning Office on this case. Hans Snook said that the case had hopefully been resolved now with agreement to share Mercury's mast. I agreed to act as Hutchison's contact point for future issues of this nature. [Note: In this particular case the main problem arose because Hutchison had started to install their mast in a different spot to that notified to the Planning Authority]
ii) Hans Snook said that Hutchison saw Number Portability as an important issue in allowing competition with other operators. As far as he was concerned this could be achieved now with the right software in the switch and said that such technology was now operating in Hong Kong. I said that this was obviously an issue for oftel but that we were aware of the current position following the recent consultation on numbering. We agreed to find out how Oftel were proposing to take it forward.
iii) Hans Snook referred to the requirement in the licence to roll out their network to 90% of the population by the end of 1999. He acknowledged that some of this could be met by network sharing but questioned why such
such an onerous obligation was placed on them as compared with, say, the cable operators. I said that the licence reflected the allocation of such a large amount of spectrum but detailed licence issues could be covered in separate discussions on the new draft PCN licence which Hutchison are considering; cable operators did have roll out obligations in their franchise areas.
iv) Lord Derwent said that in investing several hundred millions in their PCN network, Hutchison were always nervous that the regulatory regime would change. He was particularly concerned that EC pressures would result in the UK giving up something on telecommunications in favour of a non-telecoms issue. You said that this was not likely and indeed the recent meeting of the EC Commission had signed up for a number of liberalisations in telecoms by 1998. The speed of liberalisation in Germany was one example of this.
v) Hans Snook said that the promised ADC Waiver had still not been received from Oftel despite their promise that it was "on it's way". We said that we would make enquiries.
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