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Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

Vodafone and Three UK Mega Mobile Merger Gets Final Approval

5th December, 2024 (13 Comments)

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today finally granted approval for mobile operators Vodafone and Three UK to proceed with their merger deal (here), which will result in an expansion of their 5G Standalone (SA) network (broadband) coverage. But the merged company will have to comply with new legal obligations and consumer pricing controls.

OTA Identify Areas Needing Improvement in UK Broadband Switching Process UPDATE

4th December, 2024 (2 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has revealed the outcome of the Telecoms Adjudicator‘s (OTA) recent review into the remaining problems (i.e. the matching process) with the new One Touch Switching (OTS) system, which was intended to make it easier for consumers to change broadband ISPs but is still somewhat of a work-in-progress.

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Ofcom Enhance Spectrum Sharing for UK Mobile and Wireless Broadband

2nd December, 2024 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today introduced changes that are designed to improve their spectrum sharing framework, which among other things have been designed to add more flexibility, facilitate more effective spectrum sharing and increase spectrum supply to support new types of fixed wireless (broadband) and mobile (4G, 5G etc.) services.

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Ads Watchdog Updates UK Guidance on Mid-Contract Broadband Price Hikes

29th November, 2024 (11 Comments)

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today updated their guidance for how broadband ISPs, phone, pay TV and mobile operators should communicate mid-contract prices hikes to consumers. The change is primarily intended to align their policy with Ofcom’s imminent ban on mid-contract price hikes that are linked to inflation and percentage changes.

Sky Threatens Legal Challenge to Vodafone and Three UK Merger

26th November, 2024 (28 Comments)

Sky (Sky Mobile, Sky Broadband etc.) has today warned the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that they could launch a legal challenge (appeal) if the proposed merger between mobile network operators Vodafone and Three UK is allowed to proceed, unless significant changes are made to the proposed competition remedies.

Starlinks ready to launch with Direct to Cell

Starlink’s Direct to Cell 4G Mobile via Satellite Service Achieves Global Cover UPDATE

26th November, 2024 (9 Comments)

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has announced that Starlink have now launched enough Direct to Cell (DtC) capable broadband satellites to be able to deliver “robust” global coverage of their new 4G mobile roaming service. But the first commercial products won’t be able to launch until final regulatory approval is gained.

Top 10 Fastest and Slowest Streets for UK Broadband in 2024

25th November, 2024 (18 Comments)

New research from Broadband Genie has analysed 207,711 internet speed tests in order to identify the top slowest and fastest ten UK streets for broadband. The slowest street was found to be Greenfields Road in Bishop Auckland (average downloads of 0.35Mbps), while the fastest was Tynemouth Street in London (921.76Mbps). But this isn’t the full story.

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TOTSCo Celebrate 200,000 Completed UK Broadband and Phone Switches

22nd November, 2024 (4 Comments)

The industry-led One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), which operates the central messaging platform that helps UK ISPs to implement Ofcom’s new One Touch Switching (OTS) process, has today announced that they’ve completed 200,000 switches of broadband and phone services since going live on 12th Sept 2024 (up by 20,000 this week).

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Ofcom Prep Proposals to Authorise Using Satellites to Deliver UK Mobile

22nd November, 2024 (3 Comments)

The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has revealed that they’re moving ahead with plans to consult on specific proposals that would authorise Direct to Device (D2D) satellite services to work in UK mobile bands (inc. MSS – Mobile-Satellite Services), which could be used to help improve mobile (4G and 5G) coverage. The proposals are planned to surface during “early 2025“.

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Multiboost Gain Ofcom UK Approval for Indoor Mobile Signal Boosters

21st November, 2024 (4 Comments)

Consumers may like to know that Ofcom’s earlier move to soften their requirements for licence exempt indoor or in-vehicle “mobile phone repeaters” (here) is starting to bear fruit. Multiboost has just announced that their ‘PRO’ kit is now fully compliant with the regulator’s standards, which means more choice for homes and businesses.

Gigaclear Back of Engineers Jacket Near Van

Ofcom UK Widen Scope of Probe into Gigaclear’s Emergency Calls Failure

19th November, 2024 (1 Comment)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today confirmed that they’ve widened the scope of their recently launched investigation into rural broadband ISP Gigaclear, which was probing their possible failure to “provide accurate and reliable caller location information to emergency organisations“ (i.e. making it more difficult for police, fire and ambulances to find callers).

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Survey Warns Some UK ISPs Continue to Mislead by Advertising Copper Broadband as Fibre

19th November, 2024 (12 Comments)

A new YouGov survey conducted by network operator AllPoints Fibre, which is the UK wholesale division of Fern Trading’s recently consolidate alternative FTTP broadband ISP networks (Giganet, Jurassic Fibre, and Swish Fibre), claims to have found that the “vast majority of people” (72%) think it’s “misleading” to advertise part-copper broadband (e.g. FTTC) as ‘fibre’.

Virgin Media O2 UK See Success of Digital Phone Switch and Telecare Trial

18th November, 2024 (5 Comments)

Broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) has today released a progress update on their Digital Landline Switchover (DLS) programme (i.e. migrating old analogue landline phones to IP-based services). This revealed some positive results from their recent trial with the telecare advisory body, TSA, which provided enhanced support to telecare users.

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Ofcom UK Warns One Touch Switching Laggard ISPs to Get Onboard UPDATE

15th November, 2024 (25 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has warned that they are “prepared to take action” against broadband ISPs that have failed to adopt the new One Touch Switching (OTS) process, which went live on 12th Sept 2024 and aims to make it easier and quicker for consumers to change provider. But not every ISP has joined, which is causing some consumers to struggle with switching.

BT Wholesale Investigating One Touch Switch Problems with UK ISPs UPDATE2

14th November, 2024 (12 Comments)

BT Wholesale, which supplies a number of UK ISPs with broadband services, has confirmed to ISPreview that they’re investigating an issue with consumer switching between providers via the One Touch Switching (OTS) process that appears to have been introduced on Monday and is disrupting some ISP switches and internet connections.

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Ofcom Put NOW, EE and O2 on Naughty Step for UK Telecoms Complaints – Q2 2024

14th November, 2024 (9 Comments)

Ofcom has published their latest Q2 2024 study of UK consumer complaints, which names and shames NOW Broadband (NOW TV) for being the worst provider by attracting the most complaints about broadband, while EE did the same for landline phone and O2 took most flak mobile. Finally, both EE and Virgin Media were jointly on the naughty step for Pay TV.

Ofcom Move Forward with UK 5G Mobile Auction for 26GHz and 40GHz

11th November, 2024 (8 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published the final draft auction regulations for its plan to auction off a large chunk of millimetre wave (mmW) radio spectrum frequency in the 26GHz and 40GHz bands, which will be used by mobile operators to deliver faster 5G (mobile broadband) services – mostly in urban areas.