Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Ofcom Regulation (1477 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

UPDATE2 BT Battle Over UK Fibre Broadband Costs Could Result in GBP2 Cut

9th April, 2014 (35 Comments)

BT’s stock market price has been sent tumbling (falling from 381 on Monday to 360 on Tuesday) after industry rumors began to spread that the telecoms giant might soon be forced to cut the wholesale cost of its superfast “fibre broadband” (FTTC) lines by £2 per month, with Ofcom expected to launch a consultation on the subject in May 2014.

EE UK Calls for BT Phonebook Charge to be Cut from Line Rental

3rd April, 2014 (8 Comments)

Mobile operator and ISP EE has called on the UK communications regulator, Ofcom, to remove the “unjustified and discriminatory” charge for BT’s Phonebook, which gets passed on to consumers via the price they pay for standard fixed phone line rental.

Ofcom to Boost UK Base Station Power for 1800MHz Based 3G and 4G Mobile

31st March, 2014 (2 Comments)

The communications regulator has today proposed to boost the maximum permissible “base station transmit power” in the 1800MHz radio spectrum band for 3G (UMTS) and 4G (LTE / WiMAX) based Mobile Broadband and voice services by +3dB, which could improve coverage and capacity.

UPDATE Ofcom UK Investigates Unicom’s Sales and Marketing Tactics

31st March, 2014 (9 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has opened an own-initiative investigation into Universal Utilities (Unicom) after a series of consumer complaints raised concerns about the fixed-line broadband and phone providers sales and marketing tactics in respect to their service terms and contracts.

UPD ISPs BT and EE Attract Most Home Broadband Complaints in Q4 2013

26th March, 2014 (3 Comments)

BT and EE’s home broadband packages generated the highest level of customer gripes during the final quarter of 2013. The data, which comes from Ofcom’s quarterly consumer complaints report, also revealed that TalkTalk were the worst for fixed phone providers, while Orange UK came bottom for mobile and BT also failed at Pay TV.

Ofcom Revising Broadband Speed Code of Practice for UK ISPs

21st March, 2014 (9 Comments)

The communications regulator has confirmed to ISPreview.co.uk that they’re currently working to finalise a number of revisions to their Voluntary Code of Practice for Broadband Speeds, which requires ISPs to adhere to a certain set of standards when communicating what performance a customer can expect to receive.

Enterprise Partnerships Slam Selective Ofcom Ranking of UK Broadband

21st March, 2014 (24 Comments)

The Chairmen of two enterprise partnerships – Buckinghamshire Business First and Oxfordshire Business First – have written an open letter to the Government and Ofcom that criticises the regulators “selective ranking” of the UK as number one in Europe for superfast broadband and calls on the country’s leaders “not to slip into complacency“.

BT Repay GBP1.2 Million to Fully Unbundled UK ISPs After Mistake

17th March, 2014 (0 Comments)

It’s only a drop in the ocean but BT has agreed to repay over £1.2m to fully unbundled (LLU MPF) ISPs and phone line providers, such as Sky Broadband and TalkTalk, after a “mistake” in its response to an earlier Ofcom review of the operators charge controls meant that a key piece of information was left out.

UPDATE 75% of UK Homes Can Get 30Mbps Capable Superfast Broadband

12th March, 2014 (4 Comments)

The latest research from Point Topic has claimed that superfast broadband (30Mbps+) coverage in the United Kingdom increased by 4.9% during 2013, reaching a total coverage of 75.2% (20.4 million homes) during the beginning of 2014. Ofcom has also published their European Broadband Scorecard, which puts the UK ahead of the other “major” EU states.

Ofcom Propose Code Powers for Hyperoptic to Expand UK FTTP Broadband

28th February, 2014 (8 Comments)

The communications regulator has today proposed to grant Code Powers to Hyperoptic, which would make it simpler for them (e.g. easier approval for street works) to roll-out their 1Gbps capable fibre optic broadband (FTTB) network into more cities around the United Kingdom.

UPD BT Demand Ofcom to Stop Subsidising TalkTalk and Sky’s UK Broadband

28th February, 2014 (0 Comments)

The endless spat over competition in the United Kingdom’s wholesale broadband ISP market took another turn today after BT used a new report from Plum Consulting to support their calls for Ofcom to “level the playing field” by ending its “pricing distortion” policy, which they claim allows rival ISPs to offer cheaper services.

Ofcom Open UK Investigation into EE’s Handling of Consumer Complaints

28th February, 2014 (7 Comments)

Ofcom has launched an own-initiative investigation into EE (also trading as Orange UK and T-Mobile), which will look at whether or not the mobile and Internet provider has “failed to comply” with the regulators code for consumer complaints handling (General Condition 14.4).

BT Openreach Tweak and Reduce UK Ethernet Rental and Setup Prices

27th February, 2014 (1 Comment)

BTOpenreach has unveiled a string of “substantial price reductions” for their range of business focused Ethernet products, which includes the recently proposed plan to replace most of their Excess Construction Charges (ECC) for new Ethernet Access Direct (EAD) orders with a single connection fee of £548 +vat .

Ofcom Shun WiFi Interference Fears to Prep 2.3GHz Auction for Mobile

19th February, 2014 (3 Comments)

The communications regulator has assessed the impact for both licensed and licence-exempt uses of the 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz radio spectrum bands and found that the risk of interference with other services, such as WiFi (adjacent 2.4GHz band), did exist but wasn’t big enough to be worth worrying about.

Court of Appeal Sends Ofcom and Sky Sports TV Competition Case Back to CAT

17th February, 2014 (3 Comments)

The tennis match over wholesale access and prices for Sky TV’s (Sky Broadband) premium sports channels (Sky Sports 1 / 2 etc.) looks set to erupt again. The UK Court of Appeal has today ruled that the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) needs to look again at its rejection of Ofcom’s pay TV measures.

Fixed Access Review Delay Triggers BT Openreach UK Line Rental Hike

15th February, 2014 (51 Comments)

BTOpenreach, which maintains BT’s national UK phone and broadband network, has said that it anticipates a “three month … delay” in the publication of Ofcom’s final statement of the Fixed Access Market Review(s) and the associated LLU and WLR charge control review. As a result they’ve decided to put some of their line rental prices up.

BT Could Replace UK Ethernet Excess Construction Charges with Setup Fee

14th February, 2014 (5 Comments)

Ofcom has preliminarily agreed to a proposal by BTOpenreach that could result in the operator replacing its sliding scale Excess Construction Charges (ECC), at least some of them, on their point-to-point Ethernet Access Direct products with a single setup fee of around £550 +vat.