The central team which will be managing the project to set up OFCOM is now in place.

Stephen Locke, Director of the OFCOM Transition Project, has been joined by two project managers and an administrative support officer. One of the project managers is Oftel's Rosalind Stevens-Strohmann, who has moved on secondment from the Ombudsman project.

The central team will report to the Regulators Steering Group (Oftel and the other regulators who will make up OFCOM, with DTI and DCMS). It will manage and co-ordinate the work which has now started to take forward the detailed planning and preparations for OFCOM. This work will be supported by consultants who will be announced soon.

The OFCOM Bill is now completing its progress through Parliament and is expected to become law before Easter.

The next edition of Oftel News, published in June, will focus on OFCOM, looking at progress to date and what the change will mean for the five organisations involved.