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16 July 2010
The GSM Association announces
that the number of global mobile connections exceeds 5 billion, some 18
months after the 4 billion mark was reached. The highest penetrated region
is Western Europe at 130%, and the lowest is Africa at 52%. Data connections
have played a significant part in the growth with 287 million HSPA
connections across 127 countries. Currently, there are 162 HSPA, 52 HSPA+
and 2 LTE live networks; a further 113 LTE network are planned. For more information,
click here.
8 July 2010
Ofcom announces, with
effect from 11 April 2011, that consumers will be able to transfer their
mobile number to a new provider within one working day rather than the
present two days. At the same time, networks are required to issue PACs
(Porting Authorisations Codes) either immediately by phone or within two
hours by text. For more information,
click here.
8 April 2010
Ofcom increases, with
immediate effect, the number of geographic telephone area codes subject to
conservation status by 336. Conservation status is applied where Ofcom feels
there is a reasonable expectation of number exhaustion within the next five
years. As a result of Ofcom's decision, all UK area codes of the form
'01xxx' (except 01481 and 01534) are now subject to conservation measures,
and new numbers will be allocated to CPs in 1000-number blocks. For more information,
click here.
1 April 2010
Ofcom consults on the
Mobile Termination Rates that will apply from 1 April 2011 until 31 March
2015. Ofcom is proposing a glide path in which these rates fall from the
current 4.3ppm (4.6ppm for H3G) to 0.5ppm. For more information,
click here.
Ofcom consults on changes to the Mobile Number
Portability arrangements. It proposes that communications providers accept
PAC requests over the phone and that for such requests, the PAC is given there-and-then or within two hours. Also, that the number port time
be reduced from two business days to one. For more information,
click here.
28 January 2010
The Body of European
Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) comprising the
telecoms regulators of the 27 EU countries
meets for the first time. The press release
states "BEREC will play a crucial role in strengthening the single telecoms
market and consistent regulation across Europe" and "...will in particular
help ensure fair competition in the single telecoms market. In 2008,
Europe's telecoms sector revenues accounted for 351 billion". For more information,
click here.
18 December 2009
Ofcom confirms that a new
telephone number - 111 - is to be allocated to the NHS for use as a
non-emergency healthcare service in England. The service will provide
callers with information and advice on non-emergency health matters, and
services available in their local area. For more information,
click here.
28 October 2009
Ofcom confirms the
organisations that will operate three of the pan-European 116 helpline phone
numbers in the UK: Missing People - 116 000 (a missing children helpline),
NSPCC - 116 111 - its ChildLine service and Samaritans - 116 123 - its
emotional support helpline. For more information,
click here.
15 October 2009
Ofcom announces that
mobile phones in the UK will switch automatically to an alternative network
for calls to the emergency numbers 999 and 112 when the 'home' network is
unavailable. Ofcom notes that the technical solution adopted to support
roaming between networks (Limited Service State) has disadvantages -
location information is less accurate than for calls via the 'home' network
and return calls are not supported - but the benefits (easy-to-implement,
less costly and quicker to implement) are significant. The mobile phone originating
the call to emergency numbers must contain a SIM card. For more information,
click here.
15 September 2009
Ofcom decides to
deregulate BT's retail products where it has found healthy competition, i.e,
fixed narrowband analogue exchange lines for business and consumers, fixed
narrowband calls for business and consumers. BT's ISDN2 retail product has
also been deregulated although a decision on the ISDN30
product has been postponed until further evidence has been considered by
Ofcom. For more information,
click here.
11 August 2009
The OTA reports, in the
July Update, 6.01 million unbundled lines in the UK, some 6.09
million WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) lines and 3.9 million telephone numbers using CPS
(Carrier Pre-Selection). For more information,
click here.
3 August 2009
Ofcom 's consults on
changes to the mobile number portability process and the associated routing
arrangements.
For more information,
click here.
and
click here.
1 August 2009
Ofcom 's changes in the
regulation of 0870 numbers come into effect. For more information, see entry
for 23 April.
1 July 2009
Charge ceilings are
introduced for calls, texts and data whilst users are roaming within the EU.
Ceilings for outgoing calls are 0.39 per minute
until 30 June 2011, and 0.35 per minute
thereafter. The ceilings for incoming calls are 0.15
per minute and 0.11 per minute
respectively. For more information,
click here.
23 April 2009
Ofcom issues a statement
about changes in the regulation of 0870 numbers. Communications providers
are to be encouraged to stop charging higher rates for calls to 0870 numbers
than for calls to geographic (01/02/03) numbers, and to include calls to
0870 numbers on the same basis as calls to geographic numbers in
calls-inclusive packages. For those CPs that choose to continue charging at
higher rates, the proposal to require a free-of-charge announcement at the
start of such calls has been dropped, but there are strict rules about the
prominence and content of publicity for services provided via 0870 numbers.
The new regulations will come into effect on 1 August 2009. For more information,
click here.
20 February 2009
The European Commission
intends that certain social value services shall be available via the same
memorable telephone numbers in all Member States. The reserved number range
is 116nnn, and the first three numbers are 116000 (hotline for missing
children), 116111 (child helpline) and 116123 (emotional support helpline).
Ofcom confirms that these three numbers will be introduced in the UK, that
all three will be free-of-charge to the caller, and that it is beginning the
process to select the service providers for each number. For more information,
click here.
16 February 2009
Ofcom announces that all
3G licence holders have met the obligation to provide coverage to 80% of the
UK population by end-2008, and that it expects this level of coverage to be
maintained in the future. For more information,
click here.
6 February 2009
The OTA reports, in the
September Update, 5.60 million unbundled lines in the UK, some 5.41
million WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) lines and 4.13 million telephone numbers using CPS
(Carrier Pre-Selection). For more information,
click here.
2 February 2009
Ofcom confirms that, from
1 August 2009, regulation of Premium Rate Services (PRS) will be extended to
include all numbers starting 087 (except those starting 0870) where the
charge is greater than 5p per minute for BT customers. These number will
then fall within the remit of the PRS regulator, PhonepayPlus. For more information,
click here.
3 October 2008
The OTA reports, in the
January Update, 5.032 million unbundled lines in the UK, some 5.08
million WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) lines and 4.85 million telephone numbers using CPS
(Carrier Pre-Selection). For more information,
click here.
17 April 2008
In response to the
continuing demand for geographic telephone numbers, Ofcom consults on giving
number conservation status to an additional 96 geographic area code;
conservation status has already been given to 169 geographic area codes. In
a number conservation area, numbers are allocated to Communications
Providers in 1000-number blocks, rather than the 10000-number blocks used
elsewhere. For more information,
click here.
7 March 2008
The OTA reports, in the
February Update, 4.086 million unbundled lines in the UK, some 4.62
million WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) lines and 5.89 million telephone numbers using CPS
(Carrier Pre-Selection). For more information,
click here.
3 March 2008
Ofcom announces that the
Sitefinder database is being updated once again, via three-monthly updates
from 3, O2, Orange, Vodafone, Airwave and Network Rail (T-Mobile has not
provided updates since August 2005). Sitefinder results from one of the
recommendations of the 2000 Stewart report. For more information,
click here.
05 December 2007
Ofcom announces that VoIP
providers offering outbound call services to UK national numbers must, by 8
September 2008, also provide outbound call services to 999 / 112 services.
For such calls, providers must meet the requirements to include caller
location information to the emergency organisations handling the calls. The
requirement to support calls to 999 / 112 does not apply to 'Click-to-Call'
services, or to those VoIP providers offering outbound call services to
international numbers only. For more information,
click here.
13 November 2007
The European Commission
proposes reform in the telecoms market. The main aims are that those in EU
countries will benefit from better and cheaper services through increased
competition, from investment in new technologies and from improved
reliability and security of communications networks. For more information,
click here.
Ofcom announces that it
has allocated 13 million 03 numbers to more than 80 communications
providers, and that it has adopted 03 numbers for its own use. For more information,
click here.
12 November 2007
Ofcom announces that it
will open up two more premium-rate number ranges; 0902 and 0903. The 0902
range will supplement the existing 0900 & 0901 Special Services number
ranges; calls up to 60ppm with a total cost of no more than £5 or a fixed
fee of £1 per call. The 0903 range will supplement the existing 0904, 0905,
0906 & 0911 Special Services ranges; calls with open-ended time-related
charging or a fixed fee up to £1.50. For more information,
click here.
2 November 2007
The OTA reports, in the
October Update, 3.363 million unbundled lines in the UK, some 5.05
million WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) lines and 5.78 million telephone numbers using CPS
(Carrier Pre-Selection). For more information,
click here.
18 October 2007
Ofcom consults (until 30
November) on the authorisation and technical management regime for MCA
(Mobile Communications on Aircraft) on UK-registered aircraft.
The current proposals cover the GSM 1800 MHz
band only and include: the MCA radio equipment to be licensed with licences
issued on request via the CAA; adherence to EU standards; and the allocation
of non-geographic International Mobile Network Codes. For more information,
click here.
5 October 2007
The OTA reports, in the
September Update, 3.195 million unbundled lines in the UK, some 4.36
million WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) lines and 5.81 million telephone numbers using CPS
(Carrier Pre-Selection). For more information,
click here.
26 July 2007
Ofcom consults on whether
Type 2 (outgoing calls to the PSTN) and Type 4 (incoming and outgoing calls
to the PSTN) VoIP providers should be required to support calls to the
emergency services via the 999 and 112 numbers. For more information,
click here.
17 July 2007
Ofcom announces that,
from 31 March 2008, the lead time for porting a mobile number will reduce
from its present five working days to two working days. Further, Ofcom consults on
proposals that:
-
providers of fixed and
mobile networks should be required to populate a common central database
containing details of ported numbers and their current providers
-
Direct Routing be
implemented (rather than the present arrangement whereby calls to ported
mobile numbers are onward-routed by the donor network), and
-
the lead time for
porting numbers should be further reduced to two hours.
For more information,
click here.
8 June 2007
The OTA reports, in the
May Update, more than 2.25 million unbundled lines in the UK, some 4.2
million WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) lines and 6.2 million numbers using CPS
(Carrier Pre-Selection). For more information,
click here.
31 May 2007
Ofcom announces that, for
calls to 03 numbers:
-
the cost to the caller
will be no more than the cost of calls to geographic
numbers (e.g, those starting 01 & 02)
-
they will be treated as
calls to geographic numbers in terms of any inclusive-minutes package or
discount scheme
-
revenue-sharing will not
be permitted.
These requirements will
apply for calls from all types of lines, including mobiles and payphones. Ofcom has also announced
that providers must, from 1 September 2007, include a free pre-call
announcement about call costs on calls to 070 numbers costing more than 20 pence per minute or per call For more information about
these two changes,
click here.
29 May 2007
Ofcom confirms removal of the requirement on BT Group plc to publish its
charges and terms & conditions for certain business services, where the
spend on BT communications services exceeds £1m per annum. This follows an
earlier requirement on BT to deliver certain specific product development
targets for WLR in support of business retail services. For more
information,
click here
28 May 2007
Ofcom announces that the rules about mis-selling of fixed-line services of
fixed line services (including 'slamming') will continue, and be extended to
include providers of voice and braodband services using full LLU technology.
For more information,
click here
4 May 2007
The OTA reports, in the
April Update, more than two million unbundled lines in the UK, some 4.2
million WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) lines and 6.2 million numbers using CPS
(Carrier Pre-Selection). Plus, the OTA2 scheme is now in operation. For more information,
click here.
13 April 2007
The OTA announces nearly
two million unbundled lines in the UK in the March Update, and the
introduction of the OTA2 scheme. The new scheme expands the scope of the OTA
to include Local Loop Unbundling (including sub-loop unbundling); Backhaul
Extension Service and Wholesale Extension Backhaul; Whole Line
Rental/Carrier Pre-selection; Geographic Number Portability and broadband
where migration impacts may occur. For more information,
click here.
29 March 2007
Ofcom announces a new
Code of Practice for providers of Voice-over-IP (VoIP) services, ensuring
that users will have access to information about the capabilities of their
service. Providers must comply with the Code by 29 May 2007. Ofcom has also,
with immediate effect, modified the definition of PATS (Publicly Available
Telephone Service ) so that only those services providing calls to/from
national and international destinations and access to emergency services
through a normal telephone number have a right to number portability (with
the exception of incoming-only services). For more information,
click here.
27 March 2007
Ofcom announces new
charge controls that limit the amount that UK MNOs (O2, Orange, H3G,
T-Mobile, Vodafone) charge other telephone
companies for terminating voice calls on their mobile networks. The controls
will result in reductions (phased over four years) in wholesale termination
charges. For the first time, Hutchison and other 3G operators will be
subject to voice call termination charge controls. Ofcom forecasts a reduction in
wholesale charges of about £500 million over the four-year period, and
expects savings to be passed on to retail customers. For more information,
click here.
9 March 2007
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than one million
seven-hundred thousand unbundled
lines in the UK. To see the OTA's February update,
click here.
8 March 2007
Ofcom confirms that all sexual entertainment services (SES) currently using
chargeable 08 numbers must be offered on 09 premium rate telephone numbers,
and therefore must be subject to regulation by ICSTIS. For more information,
click here
6 March 2007
Ofcom consults on telephone number conservation measures (by reducing the
size of the number block allocated to Communications Providers) in 59
geographic area codes. Ofcom also proposes additional 08 number ranges; 0843
(to supplement 0844) and 0872 and 0873 (to supplement 0871). Finally, Ofcom
confirms additional number ranges for Belfast (028 95), Portsmouth (023 93)
and Southampton (023 81). For more information,
click here
1 March 2007
Ofcom publishes a draft decision to relax regulation in the large business
fixed-line telecoms market, proposing that BT be allowed to offer, to large
business customers, bespoke pricing for exchange line services where the
annual spend is greater than £1million. For more information,
click here.
13 February 2007
Ofcom confirms that the cost of calls to the new 03 number range will be the
same as calls to existing geographic numbers (01 and 02), and will be
included in any inclusive minutes or discount schemes. Revenue-sharing will
not be permitted. Ofcom intends that the cost of calling 03 numbers will be
the same from all line types, e.g, fixed lines, mobiles and payphones, and
is currently consulting on this aspect.
Ofcom s also consulting on a proposal that if a call to a 070 number is to
cost more than 20p (per minute or per call), customers will receive a
free-to-caller pre-call announcement about the charge involved.
For more information,
click here
2 February 2007
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than one million
five-hundred thousand unbundled
lines in the UK. To see the OTA's
January update,
click here
28 November 2006
BT transfers the first telephone
lines (at Wick near Cardiff) to its Next Generation Network, 21CN. For more information,
click here
3 November 2006
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports nearly one million unbundled
lines in the UK. To see the OTA's October update,
click here.
6 October 2006
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 850,000 unbundled
lines in the UK. To see the OTA's September update,
click here.
26 September 2006
Ofcom announces
its decision to add
071075 to the National Telephone Numbering Plan, to designate these numbers
for mobile services and to open 075 for allocation
to communications providers.
For further details,
click here.
13 September 2006
Ofcom announces continued
regulation of the
wholesale mobile voice
call termination charges when the current controls expire in March 2007, and
proposes reductions in those charges.
For further details,
click here.
Ofcom announces that
it will be carrying out a review of the wholesale
SMS termination market (which allows users to send text messages between
networks) in 2007. For further
details,
click here.
1 September 2006
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 735,000 unbundled
lines in the UK. To see the OTA's
August update,
click here.
17 August 2006
Ofcom publishes proposals for new
regulations that would
require broadband service providers to supply customers with a Migration
Authorisation Code on request (a MAC is required to switch broadband
providers) and to comply with a specified process. For more information,
click here.
4 August 2006
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 673,000 unbundled
lines in the UK. To see the OTA's July update,
click here.
28 July 2006
Ofcom publishes its methodology
for checking whether the five 3G licensees meet their roll-out obligations (each
is required to cover 80% of the UK population by 31 December 2007). For more information,
click here.
27 July 2006
Ofcom announces TopComm, a scheme
to enable consumers to compare Performance Indicators (e.g, service
provision/restoration, faults, billing accuracy) amongst UK fixed-line
telecom providers.
TopComm operates a web site to visit it,
click here.
19 July 2006
Ofcom announces that, from 1
August, the controls that limited the prices charged to BT customers for
line rental and calls will be removed. Ofcom states that increased
competition (nearly 11 million residential and small business customers now
use providers other than BT for calls), falling telecom costs and future
developments all mean that controls are no longer necessary. For more information,
click here.
12 July 2006
The EU publishes proposals to cap
roaming charges for mobile calls made within EU countries. If the proposals
are given the go-ahead, new charges would come into effect by summer 2007. For more information,
click here.
7 July 2006
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 500,000 unbundled
lines in the UK. To see the OTA's June update,
click here.
1 June 2006
BT increases the connection charge
for new business and residential analogue exchange lines to £106.37 exc VAT.
25 May 2006
Ofcom consults on the
conservation of telephone numbers in 27 geographic area codes, and
proposes that the size of number blocks allocated (to Communications
Providers in such areas) be reduced from ten thousand to one thousand.
For more information,
click here
19 April 2006
Ofcom confirms that
providers will be required, for calls to 0870 numbers, to charge no more
than the rates for calls to geographic national numbers, e.g, 01 and 02
numbers, or, to provide a free-to-caller pre-announcement about the
applicable rates. Also, the responsibilities of the premium-rate regulator
ICSTIS are to be extended to include 0871 numbers. No firm date is set for
these changes but they are likely to take effect late-2007 or early-2008. For more information,
click here
12 April 2006
Ofcom publishes a
statement setting out the conditions that must be met by BT in order for
Ofcom to bring about deregulation in the large business fixed-line telecoms
market. For more information,
click here
10 April 2006
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 360,000 unbundled
lines in the UK, and a throughput of lines unbundled of around 15,000
per week. To see the OTA's March
update,
click here.
Ofcom publishes a discussion paper following
suggestions from stakeholders in the avionic and telecoms sectors that it
review the licensing regime in order to permit mobile services on aircraft.
For further details,
click here
30 March 2006
Ofcom confirms
modifications to the Number Portability Condition and the National Telephone
Numbering Plan (published for consultation on 3 November 2005) to facilitate
inter-platform competition.
To view the statement,
click here.
21 March 2006
Ofcom consults on
proposals to deregulate retail price controls on BT line rental and calls.
If implemented, all phone companies (including BT) could set their own
prices with effect from 1 August 2006.
To view the news
release, click here.
8 March 2006
Following a Home Office request,
Ofcom announces a new non-emergency number, 101, to be rolled out to provide
nationwide coverage by 2008. Charges for calling this number have not yet
been confirmed but 10p per call is possible. To view the news
release, click here.
7 March 2006
Ofcom announces work to encourage
competitive Next Generation Networks (NGNs), including a new industry body,
NGN UK, to be launched later this month. To view the news
release, click here.
3 March 2006
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 300,000 unbundled
lines in the UK, and that the throughput of lines unbundled now exceeds 15,000
per week. To see the OTA's February
update,
click here.
1
March 2006
Ofcom announces measures to strengthen
consumer protection against Silent and Abandoned calls. To view the news
release,
click here.
23
February 2006
Ofcom publishes its proposals for UK
Telephone Numbering, including using 03 numbers for wide area use (but
charged at geographic rates), opening up the 06 numbering range for
Personal Numbering services (currently on the 070 numbering range) and
simplifying the structure of the 08 and 09 numbering ranges. For
information about the consultation,
click here
and to view the news release,
click here.
22
February 2006
Ofcom sets out its approach to VoIP
services, proposes a code for VoIP service providers and updates its
consumer guidance to encourage SPs to offer emergency (112 and 999)
services. For information about the consultation,
click here
and to view the guidance document,
click here.
3
February 2006
The Office of the Telecommunications
Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 250,000 unbundled lines in the UK, and
forecasts between 2 and 3 million by end-2006. Also, the weekly throughput
of unbundled lines exceeded 15,000 on two recent weeks. To see the OTA's
January update, click here.
24 January 2006
Further to proposals published in
November 2005, Ofcom confirms (wef 1 March 2006) reductions in the Wholesale Line Rental prices
to be paid by telephone companies. For more information,
click here.
Ofcom announces a
preliminary assessment of the
wholesale
international roaming market in the UK. It also publishes a guide to
using UK mobiles abroad to view the document,
click here.
13 January 2006
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 210,000 unbundled
lines in the UK, a run rate of line orders at significantly more than 5,000 per
week, and a Right First Time KPI of 90%. To see the OTA's December
update,
click here.
16 December 2005
Following consultation (see
7 June news item) Ofcom concludes that
the current charge controls on wholesale mobile voice call termination on 2G
networks should be extended, unchanged at the current levels, to 31 March
2007.
For more information,
click here.
9 December 2005
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 163,000 unbundled
lines in the UK, a run rate of lines provisioned of more than 5,000 per
week, and a Right First Time KPI of 90%. To see the OTA's November
update,
click here.
Ofcom extends, to
22 December 2005, the deadline for responses to its consultation on number
portability. For more detail, see the 3
November news item.
14 November 2005
Avaya announces 'end-of-sale' of
the INDeX Business Communication System from end-May 2006, and offers a
migration path to its other products. For those choosing not to migrate, INDeX technical support, parts and repairs will be available for an
additional three years from Avaya and its partners. For more information,
click here.
9 November 2005
Ofcom publishes proposals to
reduce charges for the Wholesale Line Rental product (currently offered by
BT Wholesale but, from January 2006, by BT Group's new business, openreach)
by 9% for residential analogue exchange lines and 8% for business analogue
exchange lines. Responses to the proposals required by 12 December. For more information,
click here.
4 November 2005
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports more than 140,000 unbundled
lines in the UK, and a run rate of lines provisioned of about 4,000 per
week. To see the OTA's October
update,
click here.
3 November 2005
Ofcom consults on proposals to encourage
the porting of telephone numbers between different platforms current
arrangements support number portability between fixed networks and between
mobile networks, but not between the two. Ofcom also consults on removing
the requirement to comply with the Number Portability Functional
Specification.
Ofcom is seeking views by 15 December 2005. For more information,
click here.
31 October 2005
Ofcom consults on measures to reduce the
problems caused by silent calls.
The measures include requirements that auto-dialled calls made by call centres should include a recorded announcement and CLI information, and
that the total abandoned call rate should be less than 3%. Furthermore,
there should be no repeat
attempts to call a number within 72 hours unless a dedicated agent is available. Ofcom is seeking views by 9 January 2006. For more information,
click here.
27 October 2005
Ofcom consults on Home Office proposals
for a single non-emergency number.
The key proposals are a) to use '101' as the telephone number for
dialling the non-emergency service, and b) that calls to this number should cost the caller 10p per call. For more information,
click here.
26 October 2005
Ofcom consults on proposed
amendments to the guidelines for the acceptable use of 070 numbers. For
more information,
click here.
14 October 2005
The Office of the
Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports approximately 123,000 unbundled
lines and a run rate of lines provisioned of about 4,000 per week. To see the September update,
click here.
7 October 2005
Ofcom proposes approval of the
Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) product, allowing providers to re-sell BT
facilities and charge customers for calls and line rental via a single bill.
If approved, the new WLR product will be offered to providers, by BT
Openreach, from January 2006. The deadline for consultation responses is 8
November 2005. For more information,
click here.
28
September 2005
Ofcom consults on a different
approach to 0844/0845 and 0870/0871 numbers. The proposals include
re-classification of 0871 numbers as premium rate, and charging calls to
0870 numbers at the national geographic rate (or providing the caller with a
pre-announcement about charges). For more information,
click here.
7 September 2005
Ofcom publishes proposals on
allowing BT to offer bespoke pricing to large business customers (those
spending more than £1 million per year). Currently, BT must offer the same
line and call pricing to all large business customers. For more information,
click here.
31 August 2005
Ofcom publishes
its latest Communications Market Quarterly Update. The Telecoms highlights
are: total retail telecoms revenues for 12 months to March 2005 were £36.6
billion (+5% on previous 12 month period); mobile spend in Q1 2005 was £3.3
billion (+17% on the same quarter in 2004); more than 35% of UK fixed lines
are now connected to non-BT service providers. For more information,
click here.
18 August 2005
Ofcom publishes details of
the network charge controls for BT narrowband products and suggests that
telecommunications costs for UK businesses and consumers could be
potentially reduced by around £350400m over the four-year period starting
1 October 2005. For more information,
click here.
6 August 2005
The Telegraph reports that
the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has told advertisers that
newspaper, magazine and poster advertisements should make clear the real
cost of dialling 0845 / 0870 numbers. To see the article,
click here.
5 August 2005
The Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) reports
approximately 90,000 unbundled lines and a run rate of provisioned lines of
more than 3,500 per week. To
see the July update,
click here.
10 July 2005
According to an article at business.scotsman.com, Ian
Livingston (Chief Executive at BT Retail) calls for Ofcom to either sweep
0845 / 0870 numbers away or require operators to charge the same for calls
to these numbers as for calls to geographic local and national numbers. To
see the article,
click here.
6
July 2005
Ofcom publishes the first
Annual Report of its Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People the
Committee's rτle is to represent the interests of older and disabled people
on broadcasting, telecommunications and spectrum issues. For more
information,
click here.
27
June 2005
Ofcom
consults on proposals to approve an emergency amendment to
the ICSTIS Code of Practice. The amendment has been triggered by concerns
about problem services (e.g,
rogue internet diallers). For more information,
click here.
21
June 2005:
Ofcom
publishes a policy statement on alternative solutions for UK number
portability. For more information,
click here.
7
June 2005:
Ofcom consults on extending the existing
charge controls in the 2G mobile voice call termination market for a further
12 months to 31 March 2007.
For more information,
click here.
20 May 2005
Ofcom begins a public information campaign to raise awareness
of London (020) 3 numbers.
For more information,
click here.
10 May 2005
The Ofcom Consumer Panel publishes its research report 'Consumers and the
Communications market, where we are now'. For more information,
click here.
13 April 2005
Ofcom announces the introduction of mandatory
Codes of Practice for sales and marketing in fixed-line telecoms services to
address concerns about mis-selling and other abuses of marketing activity. To read the news release,
click here.
13 January 2005
Ofcom seeks
views on proposals to make a number of spectrum bands available to the
market, and outlines options for extending spectrum trading and
liberalisation to mobile phone services. To read the news release,
click here.
9 December 2004
Ofcom publishes its Review of regulation of premium rate
services, with recommendations for improving consumer protection. To read
the news release,
click
here.
24 November 2004
The Office of the Telecommunications
Adjudicator (OTA) reports on progress in local loop unbundling. For the
letter,
click here.
6 July 2004
Ofcom announces its
approach to the future development of broadband services in the UK, and
appoints a Telecoms Adjudicator. For the news release,
click here.
9 June 2004
BT announces
21CN network transformation timetable. Key stages are:
-
Mass migration of customers from
PSTN to IP based network to begin in 2006
-
Majority of customers' PSTN
services on IP network by 2008
-
Trials of voice services on IP
network and fibre to the premises.
For the press releases, please
click here.
and
click here.
1 June 2004
Ofcom announces its decision on wholesale termination charges for
fixed-to-2G mobile and mobile2G mobile calls in the UK. In short, average
call termination charges must reduce by some 30% by March 2005 and remain at
that level until March 2006. For the press release,
click here.
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17/07/2010
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