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Home > Media and Analysts > News Release Archive > 2005 > Mar > 23|03|05
23|03|05
Ofcom guidelines maintain reduced regulatory intervention
Ofcom today published a report covering the last six months of its work in competition and economic regulation. The report includes details of Ofcom’s work in the broadcasting sector as well as telecommunications between July and December 2004. It follows a similar half-year report published in July 2004.
The number of investigations has been reduced as a result of new guidelines on Ofcom’s approach to handling complaints and disputes (introduced in February 2004).
Between July and December 2004:
- Ofcom received 121 requests for investigation and generated a further 10 requests on its own initiative;
- 28 (21%) of these 131 requests were considered for full investigation;
- By 31 December 2004 decisions had been taken in 10 cases that full investigation by the regulator was warranted;
- An additional 8 cases were moved straight to full investigation.
The report shows that Ofcom considered one in five requests for a full investigation. For comparison purposes, in the last six months of 2003, Ofcom’s predecessor Oftel considered full investigation in response to almost nine out of ten requests. This approach allows Ofcom to target resource at the most serious competition issues, particularly those with wider significance for the UK communications sector.
Today's report includes an overview of Ofcom's work in regulatory and competition policy in the second half of 2004 and its priorities for the first half of 2005. For example:
- Work aligned to the Telecoms Strategic Review, including analysis of BT’s operating costs for its copper access network and a review of the Wholesale Broadband Access market;
- Other telecoms policy work, including product implementation for Wholesale Line Rental and policy work on Number Translation Services including 0870 numbers;
- Consumer policy work, including implementation of Premium Rate Services recommendations and mandatory sales and marketing guidelines for fixed-line telecoms providers;
- Broadcasting issues, including reviews of the ex-ante competition codes inherited from the ITC.
See the related items at the top right of this page for the full report and Ofcom’s guidelines on handling complaints and disputes.
Ends.
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