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Ofcom

Ofcom: The Office of Communications or, as it is more often known, Ofcom, is the independent telecommunications regulator and competition authority for the communication industries in the United Kingdom.

Communications Market Report: UK - Ofcom


Section: Research
This is Ofcom’s eighth annual Communications Market Report. The report is a reference document containing statistics and analysis of the UK communications sector for industry, stakeholders and consumers. The report provides data and analysis on broadcast television and radio, the internet and on fixed and mobile telephony. It also offers insights into how people are using mobile technology to access audio-visual and online content. Key areas cover ...   read more

Digital Economy Act Delayed


Section: News
The UK’s Digital Economy Act has been delayed again due to "legal challenges” and it’s now thought that the act won’t come into play until 2014. The hold-up is good news for ISPs who can now breathe easy for a little while longer, before being forced to send out warning letters to their customers, that’s if the controversial act ever fully materialises. The act was originally rushed through and passed by the Labour government in 2010, just before they left power. Since then concer ...   read more

EU students soon to benefit from even faster Internet speeds, GEANT claims


Section: News
Researchers and students across Europe are set to benefit from an upgrade to the GEANT research and education network, which will allow around 40 million researchers and millions of students to collaborate using a connection of up to 1 terabit. Investment by the EU and Europe's NRENs will enable migration to the new infrastructure, which uses the latest transmission and switching technologies. These are able to support capacities of up to 2Tbps across the core network and are de ...   read more

Everything Everywhere Urge Government to Step-up 4G Rollout


Section: News
Mobile network Everything Everywhere (EE) has begun a campaign to pressure the UK government for faster deployment of 4G. The Orange and T-Mobile merger are asking businesses and other networks to join lobbying, as they fear that Britain is beginning to lag behind other countries in the rollout of 4G, due to bickering over how to distribute the technology. The UK is currently behind Germany, Scandinavia and the USA in the deployment of 4G airwaves. "This is a call f ...   read more

ISPs Split over Open Code of Practice


Section: News
Leading ISPs have refused to sign Ofcom’s new ‘net neutrality’ code of conduct which is designed to prevent ISPs from blocking or restricting consumer access to content "unless there was a reason to deploy reasonable traffic management practices.” Virgin Media and Vodafone both refused to sign the code citing it as either too vague or impractical; Everything Everywhere also took the decision to opt out of the agreement. However, ten ISPs including BT, O2 and TalkTalk a ...   read more

Ofcom Announce 4G Auction


Section: News
Ofcom has finally announced the long-awaited auction of spectrum service which is expected to lay the path for 4G networks to be rolled out sometime next year. The actual auctions will be held towards the end of this year. 4G is the fourth generation mobile technology which it is hoped will allow mobile broadband coverage for at least 98% of the UK population; the new spectrum will also allow for much faster data speeds which are currently available via 3G. Ed Richards ...   read more

Ofcom Approves Everything Everywhere for 4G


Section: News
Ofcom has approved mobile operator Everything Everywhere, owned by Orange and T-Mobile, to use the existing 1800MHz spectrum to allow them to offer 4G services. The telecoms regulator carried out a consultation to determine whether "varying EE’s 1800 MHz licences now will deliver significant benefits to consumers”. They believe that delaying the use of the spectrum will prove to be detrimental to consumers. An auction of the additional 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrums will ...   read more

Ofcom Improve Customer Complaints Rules


Section: News
Telecoms regulator Ofcom has approved new measures to help consumers when they put in a complaint about a company when they are having problems with landline, mobile phone and broadband. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes act as a "middleman” in the event that no resolution to a complaint can be found. The two new organisations, "Ombudsman Services: Communications (OS) and the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Service (CISAS), must follow a set of comm ...   read more

Ofcom Publish Broadband and Pay TV Complaints Data


Section: News
The latest complaints data on broadband and Pay TV has been released by regulators Ofcom today for the period between October and December last year. According to Ofcom, complaints continued to fall in that period, for the sixth consecutive quarter. However, whilst complaints regarding landline telephone, broadband PAYG mobile and Pay TV all showed a decline, pay monthly mobile complaints rose slightly. The report is intended to help consumers make "informed decisions” ...   read more

Ofcom Publish Plans to Avoid Mobile “Capacity Crunch”


Section: News
Ofcom has released plans to ensure that the growing use of mobile doesn’t reach "capacity crunch” to protect the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) spectrum. The plans include enabling the release of new airwaves for future generations to help keep up with demand. As well as publishing their tactics, the regulator has also published the latest data on "the UK’s communications infrastructure, which shows that 20 million Gigabytes of data is now being consumed in a year”. ...   read more

Ofcom Publish Proposals for White Space Devices


Section: News
Ofcom has announced that it has moved "a step closer” towards the launch of consumer ‘white space’ devices to allow the technology to be used in the UK. White space devices use gaps in the radio spectrum, aptly named ‘white space’ "which exist in between frequency bands that have been reserved for TV broadcasting”. This will allow devices to use the gaps to transmit and receive Wi-Fi signals for use as broadband access for rural communities and other technologies. Whit ...   read more

Ofcom Release Anti-Piracy Code


Section: News
Ofcom has published a draft code which will require ISPs to inform consumers if it’s suspected that their internet connection is being used for illegal downloads. The new measures are a part of the on-going Digital Economy Act 2010 and will allow customers to appeal against any possible action taken, but it will cost them £20 to do so. Ofcom say that the new code is intended to encourage internet users to "downloa ...   read more

Ofcom Reveals UK Online Shoppers are World Leaders


Section: News
Consumers in the UK are ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to online shopping, an Ofcom survey has revealed. This has been driven in part by the smartphone and tablet explosion which sees consumers shopping wherever they are. The report also showed that the UK is embracing connected TV devices with the latest technology, ahead of Japan and the US and are at the forefront of using such new technology such as smart TVs and DVRs. Catch-up TV services are also the most p ...   read more

Orange take Top Spot for Broadband Complaints


Section: News
Ofcom’s latest telecoms and TV report on complaints data has revealed that Orange has been the most complained about provider between July and September 2012. Ofcom’s seventh quarterly report, publishes the latest data concerning the most and least complained about ...   read more

UK Broadband Speeds Trebled in Four Years


Section: News
New research from telecommunications regulator Ofcom has found that broadband speeds in the UK have more than trebled over the last four years, with average speeds across the country now hitting 12 Mbps. The study tested 643m connections in November of last year, on more than 2000 homes and looked at 12 packages offered by the eight largest UK ISPs, based on subscriber numbers. On average, fixed line residential broadband ...   read more

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