Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Ofcom Regulation (1790 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

BT Escape Latest Ofcom UK FTTC Margin Squeeze Test Unscathed

29th July, 2015 (1 Comment)

The telecoms regulator has re-run its FTTC / VULA “margin squeeze” test, which was introduced earlier this year as a mechanism for keeping BT’s “fibre broadband” prices fair by ensuring they “maintain a sufficient margin between wholesale and retail … charges“, and found that the operator is not in breach.

Ofcom to Make UK Mobile Network Operator Switching Even Easier

28th July, 2015 (5 Comments)

Switching to a different Mobile Network Operator (MNO) in the United Kingdom could soon become even easier after the national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, proposed a number of changes that they claim would harmonise and thus simplify the process by taking a cue from home broadband ISP migrations.

ITS Criticises Ofcom Over Claims the Final 5% Won’t Get Fibre Broadband

24th July, 2015 (21 Comments)

The Director of Strategy for ITS Technology, David Cullen, has said that the CEO of national UK telecoms regulator Ofcom, Sharon White, was wrong to tell MPs that those living in the final 5% of the country are “not going to get” fibre broadband style connectivity to improve their Internet access.

Ofcom – No “Fibre Broadband” for the UK’s Final 5 Percent of Premises

22nd July, 2015 (20 Comments)

The CEO of the United Kingdom’s communications regulator, Sharon White, has told a Culture, Media and Sport Committee in Parliament that in her view those who live in the final 5% of premises that have yet to benefit from superfast broadband will not get “fibre” connectivity. “We are not going to get there through fibre,” said White.

ISP TalkTalk and Vodafone in Big Competition Spat Over UK Mobile Market

21st July, 2015 (5 Comments)

A row over competition in the UK market for Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services has erupted after broadband ISP TalkTalk accused Vodafone of “withdrawing entirely from the MVNO market“, which would seriously limit the choices for BT and EE’s rivals when hunting for an alternative supplier.

BT Criticises Ofcom UK Regulation and Moot Higher Broadband Prices

21st July, 2015 (16 Comments)

The CEO of BTOpenreach, Joe Garner, has warned that Ofcom’s new 2015 Strategic Review of Digital Communications is allegedly at risk of being “hijacked by corporate rivalries” and that a better solution to the future telecoms landscape might come from less regulation and potentially higher prices to help boost investment. Well they would say that.

Ofcom UK Asks for Feedback on Full Separation of Openreach from BT

16th July, 2015 (41 Comments)

The telecoms regulator has today published a new discussion document as part of their major Strategic Review of Digital Communications, which asks for feedback on the vexed question of whether Openreach should be completely separated from BT so as to boost UK broadband and phone competition.

UPDATE Do 7 out of 10 Sky Broadband Users Really Censor Adult Sites?

14th July, 2015 (4 Comments)

A new report claims that around 7 out of 10 Sky Broadband customers have enabled the ISPs network-level filtering (Parental Controls), which was enforcedly introduced last year by all of the largest broadband ISPs to help block “adult content” from young eyes. Sadly it doesn’t always work as intended.

BT Calls on Ofcom to Tackle Sky’s “Dominance” of UK Pay TV

9th July, 2015 (18 Comments)

The CEO of BT’s Consumer Division, John Petter, has today hit back at Sky (Sky Broadband) for calling on Ofcom to launch a competition review of the operators BTOpenreach division. BT has now similarly demanded that the regulator include Pay TV into its Digital Communications Review and tackle Sky’s “dominance“.

Scottish MP Calls for Easy UK Mobile Contract Exit in Areas of Poor Signal

6th July, 2015 (7 Comments)

A recently elected Highlands MP in Scotland, Drew Hendry (SNP), has called for a radical change in Ofcom’s regulatory policy that would allow UK mobile phone customers to exit their contracts without penalty if they suffered from poor or no signal coverage. But notspots or areas of weak signal are common.

EE UK Fined GBP1 Million for Shoddy Customer Complaints Handling

3rd July, 2015 (4 Comments)

Mobile and Internet provider EE UK, which is in the middle of being gobbled by BT for £12.5bn, has today been fined £1 million after Ofcom found earlier this year that the telecoms operator had broken its rules for governing how you should handle customer complaints (General Condition 14.4).

Entanet Unconvinced by BT’s Plan to Scrap Traditional Phone Services

1st July, 2015 (3 Comments)

Entanet, which supplies broadband and telecoms services to a number of UK ISPs and businesses, says they’re “not convinced” by BT’s hope of being able to replace their old traditional phone services, including a relaxation of related regulation, with a new pure IP based network within the next 10 years.

EE Top of the Worst in Ofcom’s Q1 UK Telecoms and TV Complaints Report

30th June, 2015 (1 Comment)

The communications regulator has today published their latest Q1-2015 consumer complaints report, which saw overall complaint volumes continue to fall across most of the major UK mobile, pay tv, fixed line phone and broadband sectors. But the news isn’t so good for EE, which has seen gripes surge.

Watered Down EU Deal to Protect Open Internet and End Roaming Charges

30th June, 2015 (1 Comment)

After years of disagreement the European Parliament, Council and Commission claim to have finally reached a deal that will both “end” mobile roaming charges on 15th June 2017 and introduce “strong net neutrality rules” in order to protect open Internet access. But some of the rules have been watered down.

UPDATE Sky Demand Ofcom Open UK Competition Inquiry into BT Openreach

29th June, 2015 (16 Comments)

Sky (Sky Broadband) has used the backdrop of Ofcom’s on-going strategic review of the UK’s digital communications market to formally demand that the national telecoms regulator launch a competition review of BTOpenreach, which manages BT’s underlying broadband and phone infrastructure.

BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk to Work on New Business Broadband Code

25th June, 2015 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator claims Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk have all agreed to help address the problem of poor business broadband speeds by jointly working to build a new Code of Practice, which is similar to the code that already works to protect consumers from slow Internet speeds.

BT Wants to Scrap Traditional UK Phone Services Within 10 Years

25th June, 2015 (13 Comments)

Hands up how many of you still make regular use of your fixed line phone to make calls? Probably not many. In that sense the news that BT are pushing Ofcom to relax their regulation so they can close their traditional phone network and move customers to a new Internet-based system will not come as a shock.