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Ofcom review of retail and wholesale ISDN 30 markets

August 23rd, 2010

Ofcom today published a statement on its review of retail and wholesale ISDN 30 markets. ISDN 30 is a product that provides between 8 and 30 digital telephone lines for businesses.

Following consultation, Ofcom has today decided to remove retail regulations on BT as the retail market is now competitive but maintain wholesale regulations to ensure the retail market continues to function well.

Ofcom’s statement can be found here

Ofcom publishes Communications Market Reports

August 23rd, 2010

Ofcom has published its annual Communications Market Report into the UK’s TV, radio, broadband, telecoms and mobile industries. This year’s report shows that consumers are spending almost half of their waking hours using media and communications. The report also reveals that although usage is increasing, spend on communications services continues to decrease.

The report can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/cmr

Separately, Ofcom has also published Communications Market Reports for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The reports highlight trends in take up and use of communications in the devolved Nations and the English Regions.

The reports can be found here:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/cmrengland

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/cmrscotland

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/cmrwales

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/cmrnorthernireland

Ofcom Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin

August 13th, 2010

The latest change to Ofcom’s Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin was made today and relates to closed case: CW/01042/01/10 Dispute between BT and each of Vodafone, T-Mobile, O2, Orange, H3G, and Everything Everywhere about BT’s termination charges for 0845 and 0870 calls.

Please click on the link to read more

Ofcom Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin

August 10th, 2010

The latest change to Ofcom’s Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin was made today and relates to closed compliance case: CW/00998/09/08 Own-initiative investigation into Telephonics Integrated Telephony Limited about sales and marketing and the use of information obtained during the transfer process.

To view more, please click on this link

Assessment of Mobile Location Technology

August 5th, 2010

Ofcom commissioned a research study on mobile location technology in order to gain a better understanding of the systems, technology and capabilities required for provision of location information during emergency calls from mobile phones.

The research can be found here

Ofcom Update: Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator Update

August 4th, 2010

The Independent Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA2) today published its update for July 2010. This shows that at the end of July there were 6.92 million unbundled lines and 6.01 million Wholesale Line Rental lines. The number of telephone numbers using Carrier Pre-Select was 3.31 million.

The update can be found here: http://www.offta.org.uk/

Homephonechoices.co.uk earns Ofcom accreditation

August 3rd, 2010

Homephonechoices.co.uk has today been awarded Ofcom accreditation for its price comparison service.

The Ofcom price accreditation scheme logo is awarded to websites that have had their price comparison services put through a rigorous independent audit. The audit checks whether the information provided to consumers is accessible, accurate, transparent, comprehensive and up to date.

The full news release can be found here

Ofcom publishes speech recognition technology study

August 2nd, 2010

Ofcom has today published an initial study looking at the effectiveness of speech recognition technology used in VoIP communications and how it might improve accessibility to telecommunications services for hearing impaired consumers.

The VoIP text study can be found here

Ofcom makes two new 116 helpline numbers available

July 30th, 2010

Ofcom confirmed this week that it will make two new pan-European 116 numbers available in the UK.

The two numbers are:

  • 116 006 which will be used as a helpline for victims of crime. This will be a freephone service where calls to this number will be free unless a pre-call announcement tells the caller that a charge applies. This is often the case with calls made from a mobile; and
  • 116 117 for a non-emergency medical on-call service which will always be free of charge in the UK, whether made from a fixed line, mobile or public phone box.

The next stage is for potential relevant service providers to express their interest in using these numbers by 1st October 2010.

Ofcom’s statement can be found here

Ofcom Update: New help for consumers to resolve complaints

July 22nd, 2010

Ofcom today confirmed plans to make it easier for consumers to exercise their right to take unresolved complaints to a free independent resolution service.

From next year, communications providers will have to include information of the relevant dispute resolution service on all paper bills.  They will also have to write to consumers whose complaints have not been resolved within eight weeks to inform them of their right to take their complaint to a dispute resolution service.

Ofcom is also establishing a single mandatory Code of Practice with minimum standards for how providers must handle complaints from consumers.  The Code of Practice will provide consistency in standards and will give Ofcom powers to take enforcement action against those providers who do not treat complainants fairly.

The full news release can be found here.

The statement can be found here.