Ofcom today announced a fifth consecutive like-for-like cut in its operating budget, as part of its continued commitment to reduce the regulatory cost on stakeholders.

For 2009/10 Ofcom’s operating budget will be £136.8m. This is an increase of £3.1m to support the new responsibility for integration of postal service regulation and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. 
On a like-for-like basis, the budget is 4% lower in real teams than for 2008/9 and 21% lower in real terms than Ofcom’s original budget set in 2004/5. This represents a cumulative saving of £117m over five years to taxpayers and licensees.

In addition to a like-for-like budget reduction, Ofcom has made significant efficiency savings during the year to 31 March 2009. This has resulted in a £3.5m saving against Ofcom’s budget for 2008/9 with the outturn being £130.2m compared to a £133.7m budget.

This money will be passed back to stakeholders by way of reduced charges in 2009/10. All sectors will benefit from reduced charges, with the greatest cash reductions in the broadcasting sector.   

The tariff tables can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/accoun/tarifftable0910/

Ofcom’s latest Annual Plan sets out the priorities for the coming financial year.
The Annual Plan can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/accoun/reports_plans/annual_plan0910/

Ofcom today published three consultations that relate to the fixed line telephone markets:

The Review of BT Network Charge Controls proposes a range of new controls for some wholesale charges paid by other Communication Providers for use of BT’s network. Network Charge Controls protect BT’s wholesale customers from excessive pricing for these services, and provide BT with incentives for efficiency and cost reduction in their provision. Ofcom is proposing new network charge controls for the next four years.

A table showing ranges for the key charge control formulae can be found in Table 1.1 on page 5 of the consultation document.

The consultation can be found at: www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/review_bt_ncc/

The Review of the Fixed Narrowband Services Retail Markets relates to telephone lines and voice calls made by consumers and businesses. Ofcom proposes to deregulate BT’s retail products  in those markets where Ofcom has found healthy competition. This competition is a result of Ofcom opening up the market in 2005 with the creation of Openreach and improved wholesale products like Local Loop Unbundling and Wholesale Line Rental.

Today’s proposals seek to further competition in the voice market. For the first time BT will be able to offer telephone lines and calls as part of a bundle of other services (such as broadband or Pay-TV) like other communications providers do at the moment. 

The consultation can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/retail_markets/

In the Review of the Fixed Narrowband Services Wholesale Markets, Ofcom proposes to deregulate certain specific BT wholesale products where Ofcom considers the market is now competitive. Ofcom proposes to keep regulation in other wholesale areas where it supports healthy competition in the retail market.

The consultation can be found at: www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/review_wholesale/

Ofcom has today set out proposals to introduce a mobile roaming service in the UK which will enable mobile calls to 999 or 112 to automatically roam onto another network should the consumer’s own network not be available. 

The proposals form one of Ofcom’s five priorities set out in its consultation on Access and Inclusion published today.  The consultation considers whether there are issues preventing widespread take-up of communications services and whether there are significant gaps in their geographic availability.

The full news release can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2009/03/nr_20090318a

The full consultation can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/access/

Ofcom has also published an independent study to identify the areas where Ofcom could have the greatest potential impact in supporting the future development and application of new assistive technologies in the communications sector http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/usability/easytouse.pdf

Ofcom today set out new proposals to stamp out slamming and other forms of mis-selling in the fixed line telecoms market. 

It has also confirmed the introduction of new rules to stop misleading sales practices in the mobile market.

The full news release can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2009/03/nr_20090317

Protecting consumers from mis-selling of fixed-line voice services can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/protecting_consumers/

Protecting consumers from mis-selling of mobile telecommunications services can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/mobmisselling/statement/