§ Mr. Spellerasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will set up an independent body for the purpose of certifying for approval equipment to be attached to the British telephone system to ensure full and fair competition between British Telecom and independent suppliers.
§ Mr. WakehamThat is the Government's intention. The British Electro-Technical Approvals Board has been asked to undertake this work.
§ Mr. Spellerasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will use his power to ensure that British Telecom provides full facilities without delay to enable private enterprise to compete on equal terms with British Telecom in the field of telecommunication attachments.
§ Mr. WakehamMy right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State for Industry made it clear in his statement to the House on 21 July 1980 that the competitive supply of telecommunications attachments was to be phased in over a period of some three years in order to give British manufacturing industry time to prepare products able to compete on equal terms in an open market. This remains the Government's firm intention. The first phase of liberalisation and a timetable for the remainder were announced by my hon. Friend the Minister for Industry and Information Technology in an answer on 16 November.