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

Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

A Guide to Switching UK Broadband and Phone Provider After June 2015

5th May, 2015 (6 Comments)

The way in which consumers switch between different fixed line home broadband ISP and phone providers in the United Kingdom will soon change, hopefully for the better. Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to how and how it will impact your ability to change provider.

UPDATE ISP TalkTalk Hikes Broadband Bundle Prices for UK Customers

27th April, 2015 (3 Comments)

New customers of TalkTalk’s entry-level SimplyBroadband bundle look set to be the worst hit today as their standard monthly rental price shoots up by 42.86% from £3.50 to £5 per month, with most of the ISPs other bundles and TV packages also experiencing a +£1.50 per month rise in the cost of service.

Ofcom Identifies Candidate Spectrum for Future 5G Mobile Broadband

20th April, 2015 (2 Comments)

The United Kingdom’s telecoms regulator has today published an update on their preliminary work to design a regulatory approach for future 5G (5th Generation) based Mobile Broadband technology, which identifies several bands in different parts of the 6GHz to 100GHz radio spectrum range that could be candidates for the service.

Ofcom’s New CEO Hints at UK Telecoms and Broadband Deregulation

17th April, 2015 (50 Comments)

BT might be pleased to hear that the new boss of the United Kingdom’s communications and media regulator, Sharon White, is considering whether the entry of “newer players and technology” into the country’s Internet access and telecoms market should result in a “lighter approach” to regulation.

UK Mobile Broadband Speeds Average 5.9Mbps on 3G and 14.7Mbps on 4G

3rd April, 2015 (3 Comments)

Ofcom has released its second study into the national performance of Mobile Broadband services. The results show that the average mobile Internet download speed had shrunk slightly since last year’s study, with 4G networks delivering 14.7Mbps (down from 15.1Mbps) and 3G doing 5.9Mbps (down from 6.1Mbps).

Virgin Media, KC and BT Join Forces to Resist Opening their UK Dark Fibre

31st March, 2015 (19 Comments)

Three of the biggest UK telecoms and broadband giants, including BT, Virgin Media and KC (KCOM), have jointly written a new letter to the national communications regulator in an attempt to dissuade Ofcom from making any changes that might require them to provide access to their Dark Fibre Optic lines.

Ofcom Claims EE Broke their UK Consumer Complaint Handling Rules

27th March, 2015 (4 Comments)

The national telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has concluded a yearlong probe into EE’s (also trading as Orange UK and T-Mobile) handling of consumer complaints and found that “there are reasonable grounds for believing” that the operator broke its rules (General Condition 14.4).

Ofcom UK Warns Inmarsat and Solaris Mobile – Use Your Spectrum.. OR ELSE

19th March, 2015 (0 Comments)

Back in 2009 the European Commission picked Inmarsat Ventues and Solaris Mobile to provide Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) across Europe using the 1980-2010MHz and 2170-2200MHz radio spectrum bands. But so far neither company has provided the services and the UK telecoms regulator has now issued both with a strict ultimatum, use it or £ lose it.

Ofcom Impose Rule to Keep BT’s FTTC Superfast Broadband Prices Fair

19th March, 2015 (23 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator has, following corrective advice from Europe, today announced the 1st April 2015 introduction of a new margin test rule that will mean BT must “maintain a sufficient margin between its wholesale and retail superfast broadband charges“, in order to allow rival ISPs some profitably to match its prices.

BT Fined £800K for Late Rollout of an Improved Text-to-Voice Service

17th March, 2015 (0 Comments)

The national UK telecoms regulator has fined BT £800,000 after the operator last year failed to make an improved text-to-voice service available to its customers with hearing or speech impairments.

UPDATE Ofcom in Major UK Strategic Review of all things Broadband and Telco

12th March, 2015 (56 Comments)

The United Kingdom’s national telecoms regulator has today announced the start of a major strategic review into the country’s digital communications market, which could have significant implications. It will look at everything from competition and investment, to future innovation and the availability of broadband, phone and mobile services.

Consumers Back Calls for a Universal Service Obligation on Broadband

9th March, 2015 (7 Comments)

The recent discussion over whether broadband should be added to a legally binding Universal Service Obligation has prompted us to conduct a survey, which found that out of 1,445 respondents some 71.5% supported the idea of imposing a USO on BT (or KC in Hull) to deliver fixed line broadband speeds of at least 2Mbps to all.

BSG Warns Against Turning UK Home Broadband into a Utility Service

3rd March, 2015 (7 Comments)

The Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), which advises the Government on matters of fast Internet connectivity, has warned that the recent calls for broadband to be officially identified as a utility service may be misguided.

Fibre Cannibalises ADSL as UK Fixed Line Broadband ISP Lines Hit 23.4m

3rd March, 2015 (3 Comments)

Ofcom’s latest ‘Telecoms Market Data Tables’ update for Q3-2014 has reported that the United Kingdom is now home to a total of 23,411,000 fixed line residential and small business broadband ISP connections (excluding corporate lines), which is up by 192,000 in the quarter (better than the 179,000 added in Q2 2014).

Ofcom Expand Easier Broadband and Phone Switching to KC in Hull

3rd March, 2015 (2 Comments)

The UK communications regulator has today announced that their new harmonised broadband ISP and phone switching process (GPL NoT+) is to be expanded to include operators that offer similar services via KC’s (KCOM) incumbent telecoms network in and around Hull (East Riding of Yorkshire, England).

Ofcom UK Moot Manually Configured White Space Wireless Kit

27th February, 2015 (0 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator is considering granting “transitional” approval to a number of manually configured devices that harness the new White Space technology, which uses the gaps in radio spectrum between digital TV (UHF 470MHz to 790MHz) channels in order to deliver wireless broadband or other communication services over a wide area.

Ofcom – Average UK Home Broadband Speeds Jump to Reach 22.8Mbps

26th February, 2015 (26 Comments)

The telecoms regulator has today published their latest Q1-2015 report into the real-world performance of the largest fixed line broadband ISPs and their customers across the United Kingdom, which found that the average download speed has increased by 21.93% over the past six months to top 22.8Mbps (NOTE: Most of this boost came from urban areas, with rural and suburban being fairly flat).