Ofcom has today opened an enforcement programme to monitor if providers are meeting their duties to show they have secured funds for meeting their liabilities.
These duties apply to all companies who have been designated as Code Operators by Ofcom, under the Electronic Communications Code (ECC).
Under Regulation 16, Code Operators have a legal obligation to provide Ofcom with documents each year confirming that they have sufficient funds to meet certain liabilities. These liabilities include for fixing damage caused by the installation or removal of electronic communications apparatus on streets and roads.
These funds, normally in the form of a financial bond, act as an insurance that, in the event of the code operator falling into administration or ceasing to trade, there are sufficient funds available to remedy any works the operator was carrying out when using its code powers (such as digging up roads to lay its telecoms network). This helps ensure that the public is not left having to pay for such works. Given how quickly the market is changing, ensuring that Code Operators are securing the right funds is more important than ever before.
The most recent deadline for submitting documents to Ofcom was 1st April 2026.
As part of this monitoring programme,
- we are immediately launching 6 investigations into Internetty Ltd, Cambridge Fibre Networks Ltd, Optical Fibre Infrastructure Limited, Pine Media Limited, Trooli Ltd and Trooli Thistle Limited, as we have reasonable grounds to believe that those Operators may not have complied with Regulation 16; and,
- we will be engaging with other operators who we are concerned may not be complying fully with their obligations,
We expect this programme to run for several months, during which time we may decide to open additional formal investigations if we consider it would be appropriate to do so. We expect to publish updates on progress at relevant points over this period.
Whilst no formal obligation exists on operators, we would encourage operators who have not yet exercised their code powers to update Ofcom accordingly, so such operators are not subject to potential enforcement action.