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Articles for Category Tag - Ofcom Regulation

Ofcom UK Appoints HM Treasury’s Sharon White to CEO Role

16th December, 2014 (1 Comment)

The United Kingdom’s telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today announced that Sharon White will in late March 2015 take over the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from Ed Richards, who steps down at the end of this month. The regulators Strategy and Technology Director, Steve Unger, will cover the intervening period as acting CEO.

Sky and Virgin Media Top Ofcom’s Phone and Broadband Satisfaction Study

12th December, 2014 (10 Comments)

The United Kingdom’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has today published their annual study of consumer satisfaction with fixed line broadband, phone, pay TV and mobile providers, which is based on feedback received from around 6,000 consumers who were interviewed as part of the research. Overall it’s good news for Sky Broadband and Virgin Media, but less so for the others.

Ofcom Scorecard Highlights UK Strengths vs EU Broadband Rollout Progress

11th December, 2014 (0 Comments)

The national telecoms regulator has today published their latest EU Broadband Scorecard and 2014 International Communications Market Report (ICMR), which among other things shows how the United Kingdom compares with Europe’s other countries in terms of our progress towards the Government’s ambition that we should have the “fastest broadband of any major European country by 2015“.

Ofcom – 75% of the United Kingdom Can Sign-up to Superfast Broadband

8th December, 2014 (14 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today published their annual 2014 Infrastructure Report and revealed that 75% of premises are now within reach of a superfast broadband (30Mbps+) connection (this falls to just 22% superfast coverage in rural areas or 33% for raw NGA reach), with take-up of related services hitting 22% (up from 16% last year).

Ofcom – Fixed Line Broadband ISP Connections Hit 23.22 Million in Q2 2014

2nd December, 2014 (1 Comment)

The telecom regulator’s latest Telecoms Market Data Tables update for Q2-2014 has reported that the United Kingdom is now home to a total of 23,219,000 fixed line residential and small business broadband ISP connections (excluding corporate lines), which is up by +179,000 in the quarter. Meanwhile BT’s Retail share of the market has continued to rise from 31.6% in Q1 to 32% in Q2.

Rival ISPs Attack BT’s “network monopoly position” and Demand Change

24th November, 2014 (31 Comments)

The UK Competitive Telecommunications Association, which aims to foster a more competitive fixed telecommunications market and counts most of BT’s major rivals among its ranks (e.g. Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Vodafone, Sky Broadband etc.), has called on Ofcom to improve competition by among other things opening up BT’s passive infrastructure to all providers and launching another market review; although one is already underway.

BBC Watchdog Scalds BT Openreach for New Home Install Delays

21st November, 2014 (64 Comments)

Last night’s episode of the BBC’s popular consumer affairs TV show, Watchdog (Series 34 : Episode 6), took BTOpenreach to task again over the often lengthy periods of time that some people have to wait in order for their new phone and or broadband line to be installed.

Network Rail UK to Wholesale Out Upgraded Fibre Optic Network

21st November, 2014 (2 Comments)

A proposal by Ofcom for granting Code Powers (i.e. easier approval of street works etc.) to help Network Rail upgrade their Dark Fibre and mobile communications infrastructure has confirmed that the national railway operator will also provide “wholesale services to other telecom operators“.

Ofcom Appoint Temporary CEO as Hunt for Replacement Continues

19th November, 2014 (1 Comment)

The board of the United Kingdom’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has so far failed to find a replacement for their current CEO, Ed Richards, in time for his departure next month. So in the meantime they’ve appointed an acting Chief Executive, Steve Unger, to hold the position until the right candidate can be found.

Ofcom UK Make 700MHz TV Spectrum Band Available for Mobile Broadband

19th November, 2014 (4 Comments)

As widely expected Ofcom has today announced a decision to make radio spectrum in the 700MHz band, which is currently used for Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) channels, available for use via future Mobile Broadband (4G, 5G) services by the start of 2022. Get ready to re-tune your TV or set-top-box.

Sky and BT Watch as Ofcom Investigate Premier League TV Football Rights

18th November, 2014 (6 Comments)

A complaint by Virgin Media has prompted the United Kingdom’s telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, to launch an investigation into how the Premier League sells its live TV and related rights for football matches, which is a market that’s currently dominated by BT (BTSport) and BSkyB (Sky Sports / Sky Broadband).

BT Seeks Ofcom Approval to Fold Wholesale Division into Openreach

14th November, 2014 (25 Comments)

Competition concerns are likely to be high on Ofcom’s list after BT reportedly asked the United Kingdom’s national telecoms regulator to let it fold their BTWholesale division, which last year reported sales of £2.4bn, into BTOpenreach.

UPDATE Ofcom – UK Mobile Broadband Speeds Reach 15.1Mbps on 4G

13th November, 2014 (3 Comments)

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today released its first new study into the national performance of Mobile Broadband services since May 2011. The results show that the average mobile download speed has risen to 15.1Mbps on 4G and 6.1Mbps on 3G (up from a general 1.5 – 2.1Mbps in 2011). The fastest operators were EE and O2.

Ofcom Set Late 2015 Auction for 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz Mobile Broadband Bands

7th November, 2014 (3 Comments)

The national UK telecoms regulator has today confirmed that it plans to conduct an auction of spare radio spectrum in the 2.3GHz and 3.4GHz bands during late 2015 or early 2016, which is most likely to be snapped up by mobile operators (e.g. Three UK, Vodafone, O2 and EE) for use in the delivery of 4G (LTE) based Mobile Broadband connectivity.

UK Competition Tribunal Tells Sky to Sell TV Sport at a Fair Price to BT

5th November, 2014 (12 Comments)

After four long years of squabbling the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has today issued an interim ruling that upholds Ofcom’s original 2010 decision against BSkyB (Sky Broadband), which required the media giant to ensure that their Sky Sports channels are made available to BT’s broadband based YouView TV (IPTV) platform.

UPDATE LSE Group Says Ofcom Hasn’t Grasped the Interests of Citizens

4th November, 2014 (5 Comments)

Several professors from the London School of Economics (LSE), specifically its Media Policy division, have claimed that the national communications regulator, Ofcom, still has “not grasped the interests of citizens” and needs to do more in order to recognise the “other dimensions” of a networked society and the “vital role of communications” in a healthy democracy.

Broadband Speeds of 10Mbps Needed for an Effective Quality of Service

31st October, 2014 (34 Comments)

The United Kingdom’s telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has suggested that there is an “increasingly compelling argument” for fixed line broadband download speeds of 10Mbps (Megabits per second) to be considered a requirement for an “effective quality of service,” especially where there is simultaneous use of the connection by different services or users within the home.