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Statistical Data

Service delivery and enforcement

As well as developing policy, Ofcom provides services to stakeholders and undertakes enforcement activity. Ofcom has a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure how we are delivering these services. Together with financial performance, they provide a measure of our internal efficiency and effectiveness.

The data in this section relates to the following areas:

Numbering – KPIs for applications for telephone numbers;
Spectrum licensing – issuing licences (categories A, B and C);
Spectrum licensing – licensing KPIs;
Spectrum operations – field operations activity;
Spectrum operations – field operations KPIs;
Broadcasting – programme complaints (including KPIs);
Broadcasting – fairness and privacy (including KPIs);
Broadcasting – Content Sanctions Committee;
Investigations programme – KPIs;
Central operations – KPIs.

In most areas Ofcom is operating on – or close to – the targets we believe are required in order to meet stakeholder needs.

Numbering

Ofcom is responsible for managing telephone numbers in the UK. As part of this, we process applications for blocks of telephone numbers from communication providers.

Ofcom is required to make a determination on applications for telephone numbers within three weeks of receipt of all relevant information. During the period under review, Ofcom achieved 100 per cent allocation in all but one month, which was August (99.5 per cent).

Spectrum licensing

Ofcom issues around 30 different kinds of non-discretionary Wireless Telegraphy Act (WT Act) licence. These are generally referred to by the name of the equipment they licence, such as Ships’ Radio Licence and Satellite Network Licence.

The non-discretionary licence types are divided into three larger categories: A, B and C.

Category A are simple licences which involve no frequency assignment, site clearance or international co-ordination.
Category B are more complex licences which involve frequency assignment but do not involve site clearance or international co-ordination.
Category C are the most complex licences involving frequency assignment and site clearance and/or international co-ordination.

Ofcom is required to report on its spectrum management activity in detail; the tables which follow set out the non-discretionary and discretionary WT Act licensing activity undertaken during the period under review.

Category A

Licences that involve no frequency assignment, site clearance or international co-ordination	Licences issued April 07 - March 08	Licences issued April 06 - March 07	Total on issue as at 31 March 08
PBR UK General	1,099	1,085	5,508
Fixed Wireless Access (5.8 GHz) formerly 5.8 GHz	77	77	224
Business Radio (Self-Select) formerly Self-Select (One-way Paging)	627	1,148	6,471
Business Radio (Suppliers) formerly PBR Suppliers	32	41	422
Police and Fire	1	0	122
Subtotal for Business Radio products	1,836	2,351	12,747
Radar Level Gauge	0	13	124
CB, Amateur & Maritime	27,443	201,575	154,300
Total for Category A	29,279	203,939	167,171

Category B

Licences that involve frequency assignment, but no site clearance or international co-ordination	Licences issued April 07 - March 08	Licences issued April 06 - March 07	Total on issue as at 31 March 08
Automatic Identification System	31	20	75
Coastal Station Radio (International)	20	35	491
Coastal Station Radio (UK)	43	36	435
Coastal Station Radio (Marina)	18	17	406
Coastal Station Radio (Search & Rescue)	0	0	1
Coastal Station Radio (Training School)	37	78	198
Maritime Radio (Suppliers & Demonstration)	6	6	86
Maritime Navaids and Radar	7	9	116
Differential Global Positioning System	3	3	17
Subtotal for Deregulation & Contracting-Out products	165	204	1,825
Business Radio (Standard) formerly PMR Standard - (UK General) only	0	0	0
Business Radio (IR 2008 Data) formerly Interface Requirement 2008	4	7	20
Business Radio (Speech and Data) formerly On-site PBR (Speech and Data)	2,588	2,981	23,150
Business Radio (On-Site Local Communications Systems) formerly On-site PBR (Local Communications)	31	51	1,093
Business Radio (On-Site Hospital Paging & Emergency Systems) formerly On-site PBR (Hospital Paging and Emergency Speech)	4	9	445
Business Radio (On-Site One-Way Paging & Speech Systems) formerly On-site PBR (One-way Paging and Speech)	144	151	1,687
Business Radio (Wide-Area Speech & Data Systems) formerly Wide-Area PBR (Speech and Data)	1,277	1,464	9,712
Business Radio (Wide-Area One-Way Paging and Speech Systems) formerly Wide-Area PBR (One-way Paging and Speech)	23	11	305
Business Radio (Wide-Area Distress Alarm Systems) formerly Wide-Area PBR (Distress Alarms)	28	6	77
Business Radio (National and Regional) formerly National & Regional PBR	7	7	31
Business Radio (GSM-R Railway Use)	0	1	1
Business Radio (Common Base Station) formerly Common Base Station Operator	11	17	524
Business Radio (CBS - (Band I and Sub Band I of Band III)) formerly (Band I) and (Sub Band I of Band III) CBS	5	2	16
Business Radio (Public Mobile Data, Non-voice) formerly Public Mobile Data (Non-voice)	1	0	4
Business Radio (Public Access Mobile Radio) formerly Public Access Mobile Radio	0	0	4
Business Radio (Public Wide-Area Paging) formerly Public Mobile Operator (for public wide-area paging)	0	0	3
Public Safety Radio	0	0	4
Remote Meter Reading	0	0	2
Scanning Telemetry	0	0	28
Self co-ordinated links 70/80GHz	10	0	10
Spectrum Access for frequencies 412-414MHz	1	0	2
Spectrum Access 10-40 GHz	10	0	10
1785MHz NI Award	1	0	1
Subtotal for Business Radio products	4,145	4,707	37,129
Total for Category B	4,310	4,911	38,954

Category C

Licences that require frequency assignment and site clearance and/or international co-ordination	Licences issued April 07 - March 08	Licences issued April 06 - March 07	Total on issue as at 31 March 08
Fixed Links	25	27	333
Satellite (Permanent Earth Station)	51	13	149
Satellite (Transportable Earth Station)	28	30	153
Satellite (Earth Station Network) formerly Very Small Aperture Terminal	11	5	46
Total for Category C	115	75	681

Test and development licences

	Licences issued April 07 - March 08	Licences issued April 06 - March 07	Total on issue as at 31 March 08
Non-Operational Development Licence	244	258	253
Non-Operational Temporary Licence	28	27	35
Total for Test & Development	272	285	288

Mobile and broadband licences

Licences issued through spectrum auction or awards	Licences issued April 07 - March 08	Licences issued April 06 - March 07	Total on issue as at 31 March 08
2G Cellular Telephones		0	4
3G Cellular Telephones		0	5
2G Channel Islands and Isle of Man Cellular Telephones		7	10
3G Channel Islands and Isle of Man Cellular Telephones		6	9
Fixed Wireless Access & Broadband Fixed Wireless Access 28 GHz, 3.6 GHz and 3.4 GHz		6	16
Fixed Wireless Access & Broadband Fixed Wireless Access Channel Islands and Isle of Man 28 GHz, 3.6 GHz and 3.4 GHz		3	10
Licences issued through spectrum auction or awards
Spectrum Access 412-414MHz		1	1
Spectrum Access Dect Guardband 1781-1785 MHz		12	12
Spectrum Access 1785 NI	1		1
Spectrum Access 10-40GHz	10		10
Total for Mobile and Broadband Wireless	11	35	78

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issues aircraft licences and the Joint Frequency Management Group (JFMG) issues licences and authorisations for outside broadcasts and programme-making and special events.

Non-discretionary spectrum licences

Partners' activity	Licences issued April 07 - March 08	Licences issued April 06 - March 07	Total on issue as at 31 March 08
JFMG issues licences for Programme-Making & Special Events	2,742	2,472	3,182
CAA issues licences for Aeronautical	15,922	10,064	14,306
Total	18,664	12,536	17,488

Total number of licences - all categories

52,651

221,781

224,660

Spectrum licensing KPIs

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are currently in place for each category of licence. These measure the time taken by Ofcom to issue the licence and vary according to the licence type. For Category A licences the KPI is for 100 per cent of valid licence applications for new or varied services to be awarded or rejected (with explanation) within seven days of receipt by Ofcom. The KPI for Category B licences is 90 per cent of valid licence applications for new or varied services to be awarded, or rejected with explanation, within 21 days; the remainder to be awarded or rejected within 42 days of receipt by Ofcom. The Category C KPI is for 100 per cent of valid licence applications for new or varied services to be awarded or rejected (with explanation) within 42 days of receipt by Ofcom; except, where international clearance is involved, applications to be awarded or rejected within 60 days or an explanation of the delay to be given. Overall customer service satisfaction levels are at 90 per cent, with 91 per cent satisfied with the speed of receipt of licences. (Source: Ofcom survey.)

Key performance indicators

Key Performance Indicators	KPI Target	KPIs achieved April 07 - March 08	KPIs achieved April 06 - March 07
Category A Licence	100% in 7 days	93%	97%
Category B Licence	90% in 21 days	99%	98%
	100% in 42 days	100%	100%
Category C Licence	90% in 42 days (100% excluding where international clearance is involved)	95%	96%
	100% in 60 days (including where international clearance is involved)	98%	99%

Test and development key performance indicators

Test & Development Key Performance Indicators	KPI Target	KPIs achieved April 07 - March 08	KPIs achieved April 06 - March 07
Category A Licence	100% in 7 days	none issued	100%
Category B Licence	90% in 42 days	none issued	none issued
Category C Licence	100% in 60 days	100%	100%

Partners' performance

Partners' Performance	KPI Target	KPIs achieved April 07 - March 08	KPIs achieved April 06 - March 07
JFMG	100% in 7 days	100%	100%
CAA	100% in 7 days	96%	94%

Spectrum operations – field operations KPIs

Ofcom's Field Operations Team is permanently on call to take action against illegal transmissions, to resolve interference and to undertake compliance audits of radiocommunications installations in every part of the UK. Table 1 lists our main activities.

Table 1

Work Programme Activity/Incident	Period 2007/8 Reporting Year	Period 2006/7 Reporting Year
Interference investigation requests received	3,629	3,050
Baldock: Spectrum Activities (see Note 1 below)	3,416	2,749
Interference investigation cases closed	3,777	3,155
Spectrum assignments completed	N/A (see Note 2 below)	N/A (see Note 2 below)
Enforcement operations against unlicensed and criminal activity	1,526	1,704
Radio system compliance inspections completed	253	712
Successful prosecutions for criminal spectrum activity	44	67
Unsuccessful prosecutions for criminal spectrum activity	1	0

Note 1: The work of the Baldock Monitoring Station is now recorded as ‘Baldock Spectrum Activities’, and this figure includes reports of interference, and spectrum monitoring and measurement operations.

Note 2: The large majority of spectrum assignments are now undertaken by Ofcom's Central Licensing Team and not by Field Operations. This is therefore no longer a reportable part of the Field Operations work programme.

Table 2

Case category (see Note 1 )		Case Stage (see Note 2)	Quality of Service Target Achieved 2007/08 (see Note 3)	Quality of Service Target 2007/08
Safety of Life Services	QST 1a	Interaction	88.64%	100% within 2 hours
	QST 1b	Customer liaison/Validation	97.73%	100% within 2 hours
	QST 1c	Investigation	88.64%	100% within 20 hours
	QST 1d	Closure (overall case duration)	54.55%	100% within 2 working days
Critical Service (category 2)	QST 2a	Interaction	84.78%	100% within 12 hours
	QST 2b	Customer liaison/Validation	97.83%	100% within 12 hours
	QST 2c	Investigation	76.09%	100% within 24 hours
	QST 2d	Closure (overall case duration)	43.48%	100% within 3 working days
Critical Service (category 3)	QST 3a	Interaction	83.17%	90% within 1 working day
	QST 3b		83.17%	100% within 3 working days
	QST 3c	Customer liaison/Validation	95.19%	90% within 1 working day
	QST 3d		97.12%	100% within 3 working days
	QST 3e	Investigation	78.37%	90% within 3 working days
	QST 3f		85.10%	100% within 5 working days
	QST 3g	Closure (overall case duration)	40.87%	80% within 5 working days
	QST 3h		63.94%	100% within 10 working days
Business/Professional Radio Services	QST 4a	Interaction	82.93%	90% within 1 working day
	QST 4b		82.93%	100% within 1 working day
	QST 4c	Customer liaison/Validation	95.68%	90% within 1 working day
	QST 4d		96.81%	100% within 3 working days
	QST 4e	Investigation	59.29%	90% within 3 working days
	QST 4f		65.67%	100% within 5 working days
	QST 4g	Closure (overall case duration)	22.70%	80% within 5 working days
	QST 4h		33.21%	100% within 10 working days
Domestic Broadcast Reception	QST 5a	Interaction	74.18%	90% within 1 working day
	QST 5b		74.18%	100% within 1 working day
	QST 5c	Customer liaison/Validation	95.04%	90% within 2 working days
	QST 5d		96.74%	100% within 5 working days
	QST 5e	Investigation	79.93%	90% within 17 working days
	QST 5f		87.83%	100% within 30 working days
	QST 5g	Closure (overall case duration)	52.32%	80% within 20 working days
	QST 5h		73.73%	100% within 40 working days
Other Radio Comms	QST 6a	Interaction	80.39%	90% within 1 working day
	QST 6b		80.39%	100% within 1 working day
	QST 6c	Customer liaison/Validation	96.14%	90% within 2 working days
	QST 6d		97.43%	100% within 5 working days
	QST 6e	Investigation	85.53%	90% within 17 working days
	QST 6f		91.64%	100% within 30 working days
	QST 6g	Closure (overall case duration)	58.84%	80% within 20 working days
	QST 6h		81.99%	100% within 40 working days

Note 1: Case Category descriptions:

Safety of Life – significant interference to a radio service which could seriously jeopardise the safety of human life, and there is no immediate alternative form of communication.
Critical Service (Cat 2) – significant interference to a radio service which could seriously jeopardise efficient public/emergency services (though with no immediate risk to the safety of human life), and there is no immediate alternative form of communication.
Critical Service (Cat 3) – as for Cat 2, but an effective alternative communications network is currently available.
Business/Professional Radio Services – significant interference to a radio service which is used for commercial or professional purposes, but which is not considered to be a Critical Service.
Other Radio Services – significant interference to all other licensed radio services, including broadcast reception.

Note 2: There are two interim stages in the interference case management process:

Customer Liaison/Validation – during which Field Ops specialists assess and validate the report/requirement, and liaise with customer to arrange investigative visits(s).
Investigation – during which Field Ops specialists make field visits to trace interference source and take appropriate remedial action.

Note 3: In some cases we have not met our targets for quality of service. There are a number of reasons for this:

During 2007/8 we made significant changes to our targets and, as a result, they are more stretching than in previous years.
Our ability to diagnose the cause of interference, and so complete the investigation phase of a case, may be hampered if the interference that we are investigating is intermittent. This can affect our ability to meet our investigation targets.
Before we can close a case we must resolve it, either informally, by reaching agreement with the owner of the system that is causing interference, or formally, by bringing legal proceedings. In both cases, whether we can meet the target is not entirely within our control.
We are now reviewing our KPIs with a view to ensuring so that they focus on aspects of performance that are within our control and therefore provide a better measure of performance.

Broadcasting – programme complaints

Ofcom has a statutory duty to consider and adjudicate on complaints from listeners and viewers about television and radio programmes transmitted by UK broadcast licensees, S4C and the BBC.

A total of 12,726 cases were closed in the period under review.¹ A case represents an investigation into a specific programme and can relate to one or more complaints about that programme.

Ofcom reached decisions on a total of 67,742 programme complaints, of which 67,548 were complaints about programme standards (including issues relating to political advertising and the amount and distribution of advertising) and 194 were complaints about alleged unfairness and/or unwarranted infringements of privacy.

Of the 12,532 closed cases relating to programme standards:

135 cases were found to be partially in breach/in breach either of the Broadcasting Code or of licence conditions (accounting for 45,228 complaints including those about Celebrity Big Brother). Of these, 11 cases were subject to statutory sanctions (9 broadcasters).²
25 cases were resolved or partially resolved.
12,372 cases were not in breach.

Number completed within target:

Straightforward cases – 96.6% closed within 30 working days (target: 80%).
Complex cases – 62.2% closed within 60 working days (target: 80%).³

We did not achieve our target on performance indicators for complex standards cases in this reporting period, due principally to the handling of an unprecedented number of sanctions and complex cases (in particular, relating to the use of premium rate services (PRS) in programmes). This was because: the complexity of some of the investigations meant a number of cases significantly exceeded the 60-day target; and the workload involved in the sanctions cases resulted in a substantial proportion of available resources being diverted away from non-sanctions cases.

Broadcasting – fairness and privacy

The Fairness Committee, chaired by Kath Worrall, is Ofcom’s most senior decision-making body with respect to fairness and privacy cases. It is a committee of Ofcom (with delegated powers from the Ofcom Main Board) and consists of a minimum of three members, all of whom are drawn from the Content Board. It considers cases referred to it by the Executive (for example, due to their complexity). It also reviews decisions made by the Executive where either one or both of the parties have made a case for that decision to be reviewed.

Number of cases closed: 194

Of the fairness and privacy cases closed 27 were considered by the Fairness Committee.

Of these:

14 were upheld (of which 13 were partly upheld); and
13 were not upheld.

Decisions in relation to the remaining 167 closed fairness and privacy cases were reached by the Executive.

Of these:

9 were upheld (of which 7 were partly upheld);
38 were not upheld;
7 were resolved (following appropriate action taken by the broadcaster); and
113 were not entertained or discontinued after entertainment.

Number completed within target:

Straightforward cases – 77.3% closed within 80 working days (target: 80%); and
Complex cases – 67.5% closed within 130 working days (target: 80%).⁴

Broadcasting – Content Sanctions Committee

Cases which the Executive believe may warrant the consideration of a statutory sanction are referred to the Content Sanctions Committee, comprising five Members drawn from the Ofcom Board and the Content Board. The Content Sanctions Committee is quorate with three Content Board Members. The Content Sanctions Committee is chaired by either the Chairman of the Content Board or the Partner for Content and Standards.

During the period under review, the Content Sanctions Committee applied sanctions in eleven cases.

The Content Sanctions Committee decided to fine (in order of size of financial penalty):

GMTV Limited in respect of viewer competitions on its National Channel 3 service – £2,000,000 and a Direction to transmit Ofcom’s statement of finding on three consecutive days.
Channel 4 Television Corporation in respect of You Say We Pay, Richard and Judy on its service Channel 4 – £1,000,000 and a Direction to transmit Ofcom’s statement of finding on three separate days.
Channel 4 Television Corporation in respect of Deal or No Deal on its service Channel 4 – £500,000 and a Direction to transmit Ofcom’s statement of finding on three separate days.
Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited in respect of Brainteaser on its service, Channel 5 (“Five”) – £300,000 and a Direction to transmit Ofcom’s statement on two separate occasions on the same day.
Life Show-Case Limited in respect of the service Life Show-Case – £125,000.
Life TV Media Limited in respect of the service, Life TV – £100,000.
British Broadcasting Corporation in respect of Blue Peter on its services, BBC1 and CBBC – £45,000 (for BBC1) and £5,000 (for CBBC).
Islam Channel Limited in respect of its service, Islam Channel – £30,000.
Connection Makers Limited in respect of Babeworld on its service, Babeworld TV – £25,000.
ARY Digital UK Limited in respect of its service ARY Digital – £15,000 and a Direction to transmit Ofcom’s statement of finding.
Channel 4 Television Corporation in respect of Celebrity Big Brother 2007 on its service Channel 4 (and S4C) – Direction to transmit Ofcom’s statement of finding on three separate days.⁵

Investigations programme – KPIs

Ofcom has an investigations programme to deal with complaints about anti-competitive behaviour, breaches of certain ex ante conditions and disputes. The following table examines Ofcom’s activities in handling enquiries and full investigations during 2007/8, including performance against published targets (including statutory targets).

Category and target	Achievement level (for all closed cases during the reporting period irrespective of when opened)	Achievement level (for closed cases opened during the reporting period)
Decision to reject or accept enquiry within 15 working days	52% (of 23 closed, 11 exceeded target with agreement; 100% with agreement for complex cases)	52% (of 24 opened, 21 closed, 10 exceeded target with agreement; 100% with agreement for complex cases)
Decision to reject or accept Competition Act enquiry within eight weeks (new target introduced in the summer of 2007)	100% (two closed) Note: For one of the closed enquiries recorded as being completed on time Ofcom set a ten-week enquiry period at the outset due to Christmas and the New Year	100% (of 3 opened, 2 closed, neither of which exceeded target). Note: For one of the closed enquiries recorded as being completed on time Ofcom set a ten-week enquiry period at the outset due to Christmas and the New Year. One enquiry opened during the reporting period remains ongoing and has exceeded target with agreement
Resolution of disputes (four months)	100% (eight cases closed, none exceeded target) Note: exceptional circumstances applied in three of the cases recorded as completed on time	100% (of four opened, three closed) Note: one dispute case opened during the reporting period remains open and has exceeded target - exceptional circumstances apply to this
Competition Act investigations (six months where ‘no grounds for action’ decision made; 12 months for an infringement decision)	0% (one case closed which exceeded target)	N/A (no cases opened). Note: two cases that were opened prior to the reporting period remain open and have exceeded target
Part 8 of the Enterprise Act investigations (six months to obtain undertakings)	N/A (no cases closed)	N/A (no cases opened)
Investigations into breaches of ex ante conditions and unfair terms in consumer contracts (four months for a closure statement or notification that a conditionhas been breached)	N/A (no cases closed)	N/A (no cases opened). Note: one case that was opened prior to the reporting period remains open and has exceeded target
Own-initiative investigations (six months)	90% (10 cases closed, one met an agreed extended target) Note: one of the eight cases shown as being completed on time was an Enforcement Programme that was extended for further six-month periods on three occasions	100% (of 11 cases opened, six closed). Note: one case that was opened as an Enforcement Programme has been extended for a further six-month period
Total investigations	89% (19 cases closed, of which one met an agreed extended target and one exceeded target) Note: As recorded above exceptional circumstances applied to three of the disputes recorded as being closed on time and similarly one own-initiative investigation shown as being completed on time was an Enforcement Programme that was extended	100% (of 15 cases opened, 9 closed, of which none exceeded target). One ongoing case opened during the reporting period as an Enforcement Programme had been extended for a further six-month period and Ofcom has cited exceptional circumstances for one ongoing dispute opened during the reporting period. No other ongoing cases opened during the reporting period had exceeded their targets as at 31 March 2008

This figure includes over 44,500 complaints relating to the Celebrity Big Brother case.

These sanctions cases included Celebrity Big Brother and five cases relating to the use of premium rate services (PRS) in viewer competitions.

These figures reflect those cases handled under Ofcom’s new performance indicators (introduced from 1 April 2007). Those cases which were closed during the reporting period but which had been received before 1 April 2007, and therefore handled under the former performance indicators, are excluded, for purposes of clarity .

Ofcom did not achieve its targets on performance indicators for fairness and privacy cases in this reporting period. This was due principally to the handling of an unprecedented number of sanctions cases which resulted in a substantial proportion of available resources being diverted away from non-sanctions cases. See comments on Standards cases above .

All monies received in fines are passed to the UK Exchequer.

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