Statement: Reviews of Call Termination Markets and End-to-End Connectivity Condition

Statement published 26 March 2026

This statement sets out Ofcom’s final decisions on how we regulate the wholesale markets that enable landline and mobile calls, and calls to 070 numbers, for the period from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031. It also concludes our review of the End‑to‑End Connectivity Condition, an access‑related obligation that has applied to BT.

Call termination

Call termination is the term used to describe the service provided by a phone company to connect incoming calls from another network to their customers. These services are essential for people and businesses to make and receive calls across any UK landline or mobile networks, and to call 070 (also known as personal) numbers.

We have long-standing regulation in place to prevent providers with significant market power from charging excessive termination rates, which could raise costs and distort competition. Mobile and landline calls remain important ways for people to communicate, so it is vital that these wholesale services continue to operate fairly and effectively.

Our decisions

Our regulatory framework has been working well to support competition, and we have decided to continue regulating call termination services for this review period. We are also simplifying parts of our regulation to reflect market developments and reduce unnecessary burden.

Price controls for landline, mobile and 070 numbers

We are maintaining caps on the wholesale charges for terminating calls to UK landlines, mobiles and 070 numbers. We have decided to adjust these caps to allow for inflation from 1 June 2026 and for further inflation adjustments from 1 April 2027. 

International calls

We are updating the ‘reciprocity rules’ for termination of international calls, so UK providers have greater pricing flexibility when terminating calls from overseas, particularly where international operators set high termination rates for calls from the UK. This helps to benefit UK consumers by encouraging reciprocal lower rates and should ensure UK providers are not placed at a disadvantage.

Network access and interconnection

We are maintaining network access obligations on all landline and mobile providers to ensure interconnection continues to function smoothly across the UK. We are also retaining targeted additional remedies for BT, given its position as the largest provider of fixed call termination, while reducing some transparency requirements where volumes of relevant services are now low.

Removal of the End‑to‑End Connectivity Condition

We are revoking the End‑to‑End Connectivity Condition from 1 April 2026. The market has evolved significantly since this condition was introduced in 2006, reducing the risk that providers cannot interconnect their networks. Other regulations remain in place to safeguard smaller providers’ ability to interconnect, so the imposition of this condition on BT is no longer justified.

Next steps

We will continue to monitor market developments and track compliance with the obligations set in this review. We are required to conduct a further review of these markets by 2031.