If successful customer service is to be provided using LLU, it is vital that incumbents and new entrant operators work closely together. The best way to achieve this is for the operators to work together when designing the processes and any supporting operational support systems for the new services. At an early stage of the UK implementation of LLU a number of working groups were formed involving BT, Oftel and representatives of the many new entrant operators. Each working group had to negotiate a difficult path to achieve commercial agreements between BT and its competitors, while maintaining inter-operator consensus. Two broad streams of work were initiated:

1. A technical task force was set up under the auspices of the Network Interoperability Consultative Committee (NICC) to develop technical specifications for the new products:

   • a plan to control crosstalk interference in the network;

   • technical specifications for the unbundled loops;

   • a code of practice for maintenance of unbundled loops;

   • a code of practice to deal with alleged cases of crosstalk interference.

2. Definition of the processes and support systems was delegated to the Oftel sponsored Operator Policy Forum (OPF). This group had to produce a number of complex agreements including:

   • exchange area data to support LLU operator planning processes;

   • processes to supply LLU service to specific customers;

   • operations and maintenance processes;

   • testing processes supporting both provisioning and maintenance;

   • billing processes.

An essential part of this work was to document and agree the business policies to be adopted by all parties to support LLU services.