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04|04|06

Ofcom publishes its Annual Plan for 2006/7

Ofcom today published its Annual Plan for 2006/7 which sets out nine priorities for the financial year April 2006 - March 2007.

The priorities, which stakeholders broadly supported during the consultation phase, are:

• Spectrum release: auctions and liberalisation – releasing and liberalising spectrum, facilitating spectrum trading and raising awareness of the opportunities offered by a more market-led approach to spectrum management.
• Implementation of the Strategic Review of Telecommunications – promoting competition and innovation in voice and broadband services by ensuring effective implementation of the Undertakings offered by BT Group plc.
• Continued deregulation – continuing to explore opportunities to reduce and better target regulation.
• Next-generation deployment – understanding how the next generation of telecoms networks and services are evolving and considering the implications for regulation.
• Public service broadcasting: future developments – work will include: a financial review of Channel 4; the development of Ofcom’s proposal for a Public Service Publisher; the conclusion of work on the television production sector; and further research on local television.
• Content delivery – understanding how new methods of delivering internet and media content are creating opportunities for innovation.
• Protection of citizens and consumers – taking enforcement action, promoting media literacy, handling complaints and carrying out research to understand better the varying needs of different groups within the UK population.
• Availability and access – identifying areas where market failures make intervention necessary, informed by research into the needs of different consumers, including older people, the disabled and small and medium-sized enterprises.
• International engagement – seeking to influence the way that regulatory policy evolves, in particular: the new EU directive on TV and other audio-visual content; the revised EU framework for electronic communications; and international negotiations on spectrum, including the Regional Radio Conference 2006.

The Annual Plan 2006/7 publication follows eight weeks of public consultation. Ofcom received more than 50 written responses to its proposals and more than 380 people attended nine separate public events around the UK.

The full Annual Plan 2006/7 and detailed information about Ofcom’s projects, which will be updated every quarter, can be found in the Related Items.

Ends.

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