Confidence
1- Information type
- Ofcom decisions shape UK spectrum access, satellite connectivity policy and telecom market structure.
Related details
Ofcom proposed three to five year transitional 2 GHz MSS licence extensions for Viasat and EchoStar while assessing market and policy changes.
news
Last updated: 2026-08-27
Current status
Services
2Related research
20- Ofcom records a one-meeting exception to its chair-presence rule
Ofcom’s note published on 2 October says the Board approved a one-meeting waiver of the Chair-or-Deputy-Chair presence condition for quorum. It gives no reason for the exception and no attendance list for the affected parts of the meeting.
Primary articlePublished 2026-10-13 - BEREC–Ofcom memorandum names four fields, leaves projects for later
BEREC’s public register dates a non-binding memorandum with Ofcom to 2 October. It sets four fields for cooperation, while leaving the roles, costs and details of specific activities to later written arrangements.
Primary articlePublished 2026-10-13 - WRC-27’s satellite IoT plan meets Britain’s rail and emergency spectrum
The next World Radiocommunication Conference will study new spectrum for low-data-rate satellite IoT. In Britain, the same bands already sit beside DECT, a planned railway network and emergency-service gateways. The question is whether new satellite use can be made compatible with systems whose deployment dates and protection rules are already on the table.
Primary articlePublished 2026-10-12 - Ofcom paused the SMS cap; the exit route is still unproven
Ofcom has left the proposed wholesale price cap on the shelf while four operators hold to price commitments through 2028. The market test now is whether senders can move enough real traffic to alternatives to change the bargaining position at the point where each message still has to reach its recipient.
Primary articlePublished 2026-10-12 - Ofcom adds an appeal route for blocked texts, but many blocks stay unseen
Ofcom’s final scam-message rules give affected people a way to challenge a block, while requiring providers to look for errors that users may never notice.
Primary articlePublished 2026-10-11 - A Phone Number’s Trust Has a Supply Chain—and Ofcom Is Testing It
A number can pass from a regulator’s allocation to a provider and then to a business customer. Ofcom’s separate inquiries into Vonage and Voxbone ask whether the controls around that handoff kept working after the transfer.
Primary articlePublished 2026-10-11 - Ofcom's switching tally stops short of the final bill
The regulator's new advice hub may sharpen competition for broadband customers. Its launch figures describe process starts and a historical price gap, not completed moves with measured savings.
Primary articlePublished 2026-09-12 - Britain’s Under-18 Nude-Image Plan Crosses Devices and Apps. Its Duty Map Is Still Missing
The UK government says it will legislate so under-18s cannot take, view or send nude images, with protection extending from cameras to third-party apps. That is a whole-system objective announced before the whole system of duties. Until a bill assigns each action, signal, handoff and correction to an accountable actor, “impossible” remains a policy destination rather than a testable operating state.
Primary articlePublished 2026-09-11 - Ofcom’s NCII Hash Programme Separates Detection From Judgment
The most important word in Ofcom’s new intimate-image-abuse measure is not “hash”. It is “judgment”. A digital fingerprint can tell a service that an uploaded image resembles material represented in a database. It cannot, by itself, establish consent, context or every element of an offence. Ofcom’s amended code recognises that boundary: some matches can support swift action when assurance is high, while others create suspicion and a route to review. The regulator’s new enforcement programme will test whether services operate that whole chain, not whether they merely bought a matching tool.
Primary articlePublished 2026-09-11 - UK firms flag unclear ownership during network faults
A survey found 45% of UK connectivity buyers had faced faults where responsibility between suppliers was disputed or unclear.
Primary articlePublished 2026-09-02 - A 2G device inventory is not a safe switch-off plan until each replacement path is confirmed
A facilities list can show that a building owns a pendant, lift alarm or fire alarm. It cannot show that the device is 2G-only, that its supplier has accepted an upgrade, or that the function will still work after the mobile network changes.
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-31 - A final digital-landline notice is not a safe cessation until the critical call path is confirmed
A dated notice can prove that a provider started a final process. It cannot by itself prove that the person, telecare service or critical call path at the address has been safely carried through that process.
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-31 - A rural 4G mast is not local coverage until the operator and location match
A mast can be live, a national target can be met and a particular phone can still lack usable service at the place that matters. Local acceptance begins only after the operator, place and context are named.
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-31 - Private 5G equipment is not a local network until the spectrum licence matches the site
Radios, SIMs and a coverage drawing describe a proposed private network. In the United Kingdom, site acceptance still depends on the final spectrum authorisation matching what was actually installed.
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-30 - Two fibre circuits are not diverse until their routes are proven
Two access services can arrive on separate invoices and still disappear in the same civil-works incident. Resilience begins when the shared failure domains are made visible, not when procurement adds a second supplier name.
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-30 - A tenant's fibre request is not an operator's right to enter the building
The installer has an order number, a coil of fibre and a resident waiting upstairs. The riser door is locked. The work pack says the customer has requested service, but it contains no signed access agreement, no completed notice chain and no court order. A simple phrase begins to circulate: the tenant asked for broadband, so the operator has the right to install it.
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-30 - A mapped pole is not a broadband route until access is cleared
A fibre planner can draw a convincing line through a village in minutes. The line follows existing poles, avoids an expensive trench and turns a difficult build into a short spreadsheet. Then a field team reaches the first pole and asks the question the map did not answer: can this particular asset actually carry the cable?
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-28 - Local broadband support has two clocks when Openreach owns the repair
A customer experiences one continuous outage. The organisations restoring it may be working to two different clocks, and the gap between them is where a promise of “local support” is either proved or exposed.
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-28 - A digital landline is resilient only for as long as its backup path
The power fails at eight in the evening. The Digital Voice account is active, the number has migrated and a battery unit sits beside the router. An hour later the battery is empty. Or the router remains lit while the fibre modem does not. Or the cordless base and the telecare pendant have power arrangements of their own that nobody tested.
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-28 - A broadband switch is complete only when both bills agree
The new router is online. Video calls work. The old provider’s next bill still treats the previous line as active after the switch date.
Primary articlePublished 2026-08-27
