Ofcom Probe Zayo Group and Tata Comms UK Over Info. Request Failures

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has this afternoon opened two separate investigations into whether or not fibre optic network operator Zayo Group UK or digital communications provider Tata Communications (UK) “failed to comply” with the regulator’s requirements in their response to a statutory information request.

The regulator holds various information gathering powers to help them assess, monitor and govern the UK market. Naturally, communication providers are generally required to provide information, in a reasonable period of time, when responding to such requests. Crucially such providers are also required to ensure that the information they supply is accurate, to avoid misleading the regulator.

In this case, both Zayo and Tata were issued, on 23rd June 2026, with a statutory notice under section 135 of the Communications Act 2003 requiring the provision of information to assist Ofcom in assessing compliance with the security duties under sections 105A – 105D of the Act and the Electronic Communications (Security Measures) Regulations 2022

The Notice required the operators to provide information regarding the measures they were taking to comply with their network security duties, but Ofcom found evidence to suggest that neither operator may have provided “complete and/or accurate” information in response. In addition, Zayo alone may not have supplied the information to Ofcom within the required time-frame. See both cases here and here.

Ofcom will now examine whether both operators have failed to comply with their statutory duties in relation to these information requests. Such investigations often take anything from a few months to well over a year to complete, depending upon the complexities involved, thus it’s likely to be either the end of this year or sometime in 2027 before we see the outcome.

Assuming the regulator does find a breach of their rules then the outcome often only attracts relatively small to modest fines – frequently accompanied by a requirement to improve their processes and systems.