UK telecoms regulation, Ofcom, General Conditions, numbering, spectrum, switching, enforcement
In short: Digital Networks Act copper switch-off provisions would oblige every EU Member State to mandate copper retirement by binding legal act, in all switch-off areas by 31 December 2035. The first lists of qualifying areas are due by 30 June 2029, which is the operative date. The UK has no equivalent statute and is…
In short: Ofcom has consulted on the six Openreach commercial offers notified on 1 June 2026. It proposes to allow five and to direct Openreach to withdraw one, the Incremental New to Openreach Customer Offer. Three tests applied, producing seventeen assessments and a single adverse finding: that one offer’s charges are not fair and reasonable….
In short: The CMA unfair contract terms guidance (CMA37) was reissued on 22 July 2026, the first substantive revision since 2015. Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 is unchanged and applies to consumer contracts generally, alongside any sector rules. Since 6 April 2025 the CMA can fine a trader up to £300,000 or…
In short: Ofcom innovation licensing is under review. Ofcom opened two spectrum consultations on 16 July 2026 and wants responses to both by 5pm on 30 September 2026. One proposes drone control spectrum at 450 MHz and 5030 to 5091 MHz, and a drone detection radar licence at 16 and 24 GHz. The other asks…
In short: Regulatory appeals reform is the Department for Business and Trade’s proposal, published on 17 July 2026, to move economic-regulation appeals from the CMA to the Competition Appeal Tribunal and to apply one standard across every sector: judicial review principles taking due account of the merits. That is the standard already used for Ofcom….
In short: Calling line identification (CLI) is the caller information carried with a telephone call. In the UK it is governed by Ofcom General Condition C6 and by regulations 10 to 13 of PECR. Ofcom’s CLI guidance sets how providers must handle it. A further change, requiring inbound +447 presentation numbers to be withheld, applies…
In short: Ofcom opened a funds for liabilities enforcement programme on 16 July 2026 into code operators’ compliance with regulation 16 of the Electronic Communications Code (Conditions and Restrictions) Regulations 2003, with immediate investigations into six operators it has reasonable grounds to believe may not have complied. The most recent annual certificate deadline was 1…
In short: The revised Telecommunications Security Code of Practice was issued on 14 July 2026 as version 1.1, replacing the December 2022 Code as the guidance Ofcom measures Tier 1 and Tier 2 public telecoms providers against. The underlying law is unchanged, and the genuinely new measures carry compliance timeframes running to March 2028, December…
In short: Online safety fees are payable to Ofcom by providers of regulated services with a qualifying worldwide revenue of £250m or more, from the charging year beginning 1 April 2026. Until then Ofcom funded the regime from spectrum receipts it was permitted to retain. Its Annual Report and Accounts for 2025/26, published on 9…
In short: the EU cybersecurity and AI action plan, published by the European Commission on 7 July 2026 (COM(2026) 577 final), sets nine actions to make frontier AI safe for cyber defence, harden critical infrastructure under NIS2 and the Cyber Resilience Act, and build sovereign AI capacity. The UK pursues the same goals without a…
In short: The PSTN switch-off on 31 January 2027 will retire the copper telephone network, and Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2026, published on 30 June 2026, shows the migration is well advanced. Full fibre reached 42% of broadband lines (12.3 million) and managed internet voice rose to 12.9 million connections. The regulatory work now sits…
In short: the 1.4 GHz spectrum auction will offer a single 25 MHz block, the range 1492 to 1517 MHz, of supplementary downlink capacity for 4G and 5G mobile. Ofcom decided on 11 June 2026 to sell it by sealed-bid auction with no spectrum cap and a £5m reserve. It expects to consult on the…