§ Mr. Nealeasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will examine the working of the provisions of the British Telecommunications Act 1981 which require approval by British Telecom of equipment to be connected by private sector suppliers to the public telephone network, in view of the delays to approval of telex teleprinter equipment submitted by them, even in circumstances where, as with Transtel telex teleprinters, British Telecom is itself already connecting identical equipment to the network.
§ Mr. WakehamI am devoting constant attention to the provisions of the British Telecommunications Act 1981 and intend to ensure that competition in the supply of telex teleprinters for connection to the telex network is introduced in October 1982, the target announced by my hon. Friend the Minister for Information Technology, in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stevenage (Mr. Wells) on 16 November 1981—[Vol. 13, c.28.]
Liberalisation of telex teleprinters is complicated by British Telecom's arrangements to begin installing new technology public telex exchanges which will require modifications to all telex terminal equipment. I intend to ensure that this changeover does not distort competition or delay liberalisation. In the meantime, I am actively exploring the scope for Transtel Telecommunications Limited and other manufacturers of telex teleprinters already supplied to the public by BT to be given earlier freedom to supply these machines to the public direct. I hope to make a further announcement shortly.