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19|12|08

Five years of Ofcom milestones

The communications sector in the UK has changed dramatically since Ofcom first came into being on 29th December 2003.

Whether it’s how we get online or the amount we chat and text on our mobiles, our lives are quite different to how they were back then.

For a start, nearly nine out of ten of us now have at least one digital TV at home - while the number with broadband has soared from 7 per cent in 2002 to close to 60 per cent now.

Communications sector

Over the same period the amount of mobile connections has also risen by almost 50 per cent to reach 74 million.

Like the communications sectors we were set up to regulate, Ofcom has also changed considerably.

Initially operating from a small office in central London with only a handful of staff, we now have offices in Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff as well as field operations offices in Merseyside and Surrey and our main London HQ.

Milestones

Ofcom took over the duties that had previously been the responsibility of five other regulatory bodies - the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the Independent Television Commission, the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), the Radio Authority, and the Radiocommunications Agency.

Since then we’ve worked to ensure consumers enjoy the full benefit of the wide array of communications available today.

Click on the links below to see some of our key milestones over the past five years.

Milestones 2003 – 2006

Milestones 2007 – 2008

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