From 29th December 2003, OFCOM will have regulatory powers covering broadcasting and telecommunications networks and the services delivered on them.
Ofcom (the Office of Communications) will be the UK's new communications industry regulator with wide-ranging responsibilities across the UK's communications markets when it assumes its powers at the end of 2003.
Ofcom will inherit the duties of the five existing regulators it will replace - the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the Independent Television Commission, Oftel, the Radio Authority and the Radiocommunications Agency.
An independent regulatory body, Ofcom will also fulfil the additional duties enacted in the provisions laid down in the Communications Act 2003.