British Telecommunications Plc

NOTICE UNDER SECTION 12(6A) OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT 1984

MODIFICATION TO PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS OPERATOR LICENCE FOR BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLC

NOTICE OF REASONS FOR MODIFICATION

The Secretary of State granted to British Telecommunications (BT) PLC on 22nd June 1984 a licence (“the Licence”) under section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 (“the Act”) for the running of the telecommunication systems specified in the Licence. On 4th April 2001, the Director General of Telecommunications (the “Director”), in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 12 of the Act, made the following modification to Conditions 76 and 77 in Schedule 1 of the licence which were valid and subsisting on that day: Conditions 76 and 77 shall be deleted in their entirety. In accordance with section 12(6A) of the Act the Director hereby gives notice that his reasons for making the modifications were to reduce a financial reporting burden on BT: (a)  Condition 76.   The Director has considered that the financial position of the Systems Business and the Apparatus Business prepared under the terms of this Condition is less relevant for regulatory purposes than when originally implemented. The Director believes that appropriate use of his general information gathering powers and Condition 78 are adequate to meet any shortfall of information previously provided by Condition 76. (b)  Condition 77.   The Director has considered that BT will continue to be required to prepare Current Cost Accounts under Condition 78. However, the high level Current Cost Accounts prepared under Condition 77 are now less relevant and do not provide the level of granularity required for regulatory purposes. (c) The Director has considered that the modifications would remove a burden from BT, without removing any necessary protection, which is covered by his information gathering powers and Condition 78. (d) The Director has considered that the modifications do not unduly disadvantage any other person holding a licence granted under section 7, in competing with BT. (e) The Director was of the opinion that these modifications were deregulatory within the meaning of section 12A(7) of the Act.