Summary

  • Ofcom published 19 directions revoking companies’ Electronic Communications Code powers on 20 October 2026.
  • Several final PDFs retain a bracketed choice between two incompatible accounts of consultation responses; another order names a response from KCOM Group.

For a landowner checking who may install or maintain a cable across a property, the name in an Electronic Communications Code direction identifies the provider granted those powers. On 20 October, Ofcom revoked 19 such directions in one batch.

Several final PDFs still leave two consultation histories in square brackets: Ofcom considered every representation, or it received none. The direction is final; the sentence about responses has not picked a version. That is a small but very visible gap in the public record.

Two dissolution entries put dates on the clean-up. Spring Fibre was dissolved on 4 January 2026; Sprintlink UK on 16 June. Both appear among the seven companies in Ofcom’s revocation batch.

The batch concerns land-access powers under the Electronic Communications Code. A direction can give a specified communications provider rights to install and maintain apparatus on, under or over land, alongside related planning provisions. Section 115 of the Communications Act 2003 lets Ofcom revoke those powers on the provider’s request or when the person is no longer the relevant provider. The final directions say revocation took effect on publication, 20 October.

Twelve companies asked to surrender powers they said they no longer needed. Ofcom said their networks had been transferred or decommissioned, and that the firms did not use the powers or intend to use them. The other seven entries concerned dissolved companies. Ofcom checked its register against Companies House and said the firms appeared to have transferred their networks before dissolution, deployed no network, or been dissolved at least three years earlier.

One final direction shows what a completed record looks like. Affiniti Integrated Solutions’ order identifies a representation from KCOM Group supporting revocation and summarizes KCOM’s account: Affiniti was dormant and its former network assets belonged to KCOM. That is a named respondent and a reported position. The Transmitair, Trenches Wayleave, Utilitas Power, Axione UK, Broadway Partners and GCI Network Solutions orders instead preserve the bracketed either/or wording.

Ofcom described the exercise as administrative and expected no effect on citizens or consumers. The practical change is that obsolete powers are removed from the register. The recordkeeping question is smaller and sharper: a regulator that publishes a final order should leave the reader one consultation history, not a pair of drafting options.

Sources