A universal service obligation for broadband would lay the right platform for next-generation broadband services in the UK, says Ofcom’s Ed Richards.
The chief executive made the suggestion in speech to the London School of Economics this week, in which he supported communications minister Lord Carter’s proposal of broadband access for the whole country.
Like Lord Carter, [...] CONTINUE
Telecoms watchdog Ofcom has revealed new measures to protect customers from landline and mobile phone mis-selling.
The move has been prompted by over 1,000 complaints a month over the past year about “slamming”, when a customer is switched to another phone provider without their permission.
Mollie Thurston is an 85-year-old pensioner from Dufftown, and is one of [...] CONTINUE
CarphoneWarehouse has launched an attack Ofcom, who have proposed to let BT raise the amount it charges broadband providers to rent capacity on its local network of copper wires.
Carphone Warehouse may have to raise prices if Ofcom approves a planned increase of up to 11% next month, followed by a further 22% over the next [...] CONTINUE
The average speed of a UK broadband connection 3.6Mbps, according to new research from regulator Ofcom.
The research reveals that speeds are still significantly lower than those that many broadband packages promise, as actual speeds are on average 45 per cent lower than those advertised.
The report finds that, on average, people are getting 85 per cent [...] CONTINUE
Ofcom has proposed a new range of prices that BT Openreach can charge providers to use its network, which are nowhere near as high as BT had hoped.
BT’s Openreach was set up almost three years ago, creating competition between telecoms companies by allowing anyone to take control of BT’s phone lines. 5m lines have since [...] CONTINUE
Communications watchdog Ofcom have published proposals aiming to deliver super fast broadband to UK homes and businesses.
The proposal is set to encourage investment in the technology and to ensure competition and consumer choice in the market, according to the regulator.
Ofcom have said that fibre-optic broadband would deliver speeds of up to 100mbps, whereas the current, [...] CONTINUE
Ofcom have announced that they will be making changes to non geographic (0870/1 and 0844/5) numbering services. Callers to these numbers are often not aware of the costs they incur, so the changes come in an effort to boost consumer protection.
The non geographic numbers, which give businesses a share of the cost generated by [...] CONTINUE
Telecommunications watchdog Ofcom has announced plans to review its customer service information on fixed-line providers, supplied by co-regulatory group Topcomm.
The Topcomm site allows users to compare a number of providers side by side, giving statistical information on customer service levels.
The site currently reviews 12 providers, including XLN Telecom, BT, Talk Talk, Tiscali and Virgin Media. [...] CONTINUE
According to an investigation by Ofcom, the UK’s copper telecom cables should theoretically be capable of delivering broadband speeds of up to 50Mbits per second.
The communications watchdog was seeking to discover when the current network would no longer be sufficient to meet expectations of UK consumers – who are increasingly using bandwidth heavy applications.
If the [...] CONTINUE
According to Ofcom’s latest report, people in the UK are spending record amounts of time using communications services, but are paying less for them.
The report shows that in 2007 we spent an average of 7 hours and 9 minutes a day using communications services (such as watching television, talking on landline phones, surfing the net [...] CONTINUE
