Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Ofcom Regulation (1812 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

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Government Set to Restrict UK Children’s Use of Internet VPNs and Social Media UPDATE

16th February, 2026 (52 Comments)

The UK Prime Minister, Kier Starmer, has today proposed last minute amendments to two Bills that will enable the Government to set a minimum age limit for social media (i.e. greater use of Age Verification), as well as options to age restrict or limit children’s use of Virtual Private Networks (VPN), where it “undermines safety protections and changing the age of digital consent“.

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Broadband Altnets See Encouragement in UK Gov’s Statement of Strategic Priorities

12th February, 2026 (1 Comment)

The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), which represents many of the UK’s alternative broadband networks, has today welcomed the Government’s publication this week of their proposed Statement of Strategic Priorities (SSP) for telecommunications – suggesting it aligns with their perspective on the market and future policy desires.

Boom Telecom Networks Plan UK Rollout of Full Fibre and Wireless Broadband

12th February, 2026 (4 Comments)

A relatively new telecoms company called Boom Telecom Networks has revealed that it’s planning to build and operate a UK broadband network, which would be a Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) and Gigabit Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) hybrid, although the details are currently quite limited.

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Major UK Broadband ISPs Sign Gov Charter to Stop Unexpected Bill Increases

11th February, 2026 (24 Comments)

The Government has managed to get some of the UK’s biggest broadband and phone providers, including BT, Virgin Media (O2), VodafoneThree (Vodafone and Three UK), Sky (Sky Broadband) and TalkTalk, to sign-up to a new Telecoms Consumer Charter that pledges to “stop unexpected bill increases“. But sadly, it’s not an end to mid-contract prices hikes.

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Government Launch Review of UK Mobile Network Market to Help Boost 5G

10th February, 2026 (1 Comment)

The UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has today opened a call for evidence to support their new ‘Mobile Market Review‘, which aims to ensure that their policy and regulatory frameworks are updated to support investment, innovation, competition and consumers. The review could help to boost the rollout of fast 5G and future 6G mobile broadband networks.

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Ofcom Examines Impact of AI on the Experience of UK Telecoms Customers

27th January, 2026 (8 Comments)

The UK communications and media regulator, Ofcom (Office of Communications), has today kicked off a new consultation that aims to gather feedback in order to examine the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the experience of broadband and mobile customers – both its positives and negatives.

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House of Lords Votes to Ban UK Children from Using Internet VPNs

26th January, 2026 (64 Comments)

Last week saw the House of Lords pass a vote that would, if approved by the Government, introduce an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (CWSB) that aims to “prohibit the provision” of Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to children (under 18s) in the UK. The goal is to stop children allegedly using VPNs to bypass age verification systems.

Ofcom UK Probe WhatsApp Over Inaccurate Information in Biz SMS Market Review

23rd January, 2026 (1 Comment)

The UK telecoms and internet content regulator, Ofcom, has opened an investigation into Meta’s WhatsApp Business messaging service after provisionally finding that the information they supplied – as part of a recent review into the wholesale market for business bulk SMS messages – “may not have been complete and accurate“.

Ofcom Sets Out Current Progress and Future Plans to UK Prime Minister

21st January, 2026 (5 Comments)

The UK telecoms, media and internet content regulator, Ofcom, has this week written to the Prime Minister (Keir Starmer), Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rachel Reeves) and Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Peter Kyle), among others, to update them on how its work is “contributing to innovation, investment and growth in the UK“.

Mobile Operators Push for UK Planning Reform Again to Improve 5G and AI

21st January, 2026 (12 Comments)

Industry trade body Mobile UK, which represents EE, O2 and VodafoneThree (Vodafone and Three UK), has warned that the UK’s ambition to become an “AI superpower” will struggle without “high quality 5G Standalone (5GSA) networks acting as the ‘nervous system’“. But it warns that we “lag behind other leading nations” in this area and must reform the planning system.

Survey Claims Quarter of UK Broadband Users View £4 Price Hike as Unmanageable

15th January, 2026 (34 Comments)

Over the past few months a number of broadband ISPs have announced an increase to their annual mid-contract price hikes policy of £4 (BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk etc.). But a new Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults, which was conducted during December 2025 for Uswitch.com, claims to have found that 24% of broadband users view such a rise as “unmanageable“.

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Ofcom Tell Internet Connect TV Platforms to Make UK PSB Content More Prominent

14th January, 2026 (20 Comments)

The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today launched a new consultation that sets out their plan to introduce a new code for designated connected TV platforms (e.g. Freely, Android TV, Roku OS, Sky Stream, Virgin Media Horizon etc.), which will require them to ensure that content and services (e.g. iPlayer) from Public Service Broadcasters’ (PSBs) are made “prominent” on their services.

Ofcom Proceed with Proposal to Share Upper 6GHz Band for UK Mobile and WiFi

9th January, 2026 (3 Comments)

The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has this morning confirmed that the United Kingdom will become the “first country in Europe” to adopt a proposal that allows low power indoor WiFi signals and outdoor mobile broadband (4G, 5G etc.) networks to “share” access to the Upper 6GHz radio spectrum band (6425 to 7125MHz).

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Ofcom Warn BT of Possible Investigation Over Troubled UK Digital Phone Switch

7th January, 2026 (20 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has responded to recent concerns that BT’s switch to broadband-based Digital Phones may have left some vulnerable customers without access to a working service. Ofcom warns that they could potentially “step in” and investigate the operator (such things sometimes lead to a significant fine), but it’s not yet clear if they will.

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Survey Warns a Third of UK Adults Use VPNs to Bypass Internet Porn Age Checks

7th January, 2026 (26 Comments)

A new survey of 1,469 adults, which was conducted by the child protection focused Lucy Faithfull Foundation, has “warned” that 45% of adults who don’t want to verify their identities to access porn – a requirement of the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) – have turned to using sites without age checks. In addition, 29% have used Virtual Private Networks to bypass age checks on sites that have them.

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2026 New Year Honours for Building Digital UK’s Strategy Director

30th December, 2025 (0 Comments)

The UK Government has published their annual New Year Honours List for 2026, which this time saw Matt Agar, Strategy Director for the government’s Building Digital UK agency within DSIT, being named an “Officer of the Order of the British Empire” for “services to Digital Infrastructure and Broadband“.

Ofcom Publish Telecoms and Broadband Proposals for Hull UK and KCOM UPDATE2

18th December, 2025 (7 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has today published the results of their Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR) for the Hull-area of East Yorkshire, which sets out how they intend to promote competition and investment in gigabit broadband (inc. business connectivity) across an area of c.198,000 premises that was previously totally dominated by KCOM’s network.