As anticipated, Ofcom yesterday started a consultation on its plans to update the UK’s Conditions of General Entitlement i.e. the obligations placed on all telecoms operators in the UK that rely on the UK’s general authorisation.
UK’s Financial Conduct Authority issues guidance on cloud
On 7 July 2016, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued finalised guidance for authorised UK financial institutions use of cloud services. In a marked contrast to some other jurisdictions’ approach, this guidance is issued against a policy backdrop of FCA’s ‘Project Innovate’ which is a initiative to foster innovation and competition. The FCA say:
European Network and Information Security Directive adopted to address cyber-threats
On 6 July 2016, the European Union (which for now includes the UK) adopted the Network and Information Security (or NIS) Directive. This imposes obligations on three sets of stakeholders:
UK Government publishes Digital Economy Bill draft
The UK Government today published its first draft of the Digital Economy Bill. As expected, it contains provisions addressing (text taken from Government explanatory fact sheet):
Europe consults on implementation of net neutrality
From 30 April 2016, Europe has been subject to net neutrality rules set out in the Connected Continent Regulation. However those rules, set out in Articles 3 and 4 of the Regulation and reproduced below for easy reference, are framed at such a high level of abstraction as to be almost useless in assessing whether any particular practice is compliant or not.
UK wayleave reform to create a £1bn windfall for telecoms operators
As discussed previously, perhaps one of the most important pieces of legislation for the telecoms sector proposed in the recent Queen’s speech is reform of the Electronic Communications Code, which deals with the telecoms industry’s access to land in the UK.
Proposed changes to UK law affecting telecoms operators
In today’s Queen’s speech (which sets out the UK Government’s legislative agenda), a number of proposals were made which will impact the UK telecoms sector:
A new universal service broadband obligation for the UK
In November 2015, the David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, announced the UK government’s intention to introduce a broadband universal service obligation to the UK. Subsequent announcements have clarified that his ‘ambition’ is that the minimum speed is set at 10 Mbps for consumers and small businesses.
Ofcom to review and update General Conditions of Entitlement affecting all communications providers operating in the UK
If you read past the Openreach headlines in Ofcom’s Digital Communications Market review, you can find four paragraphs in chapter eight announcing a review of the UK’s General Conditions of Entitlement, which will affect anyone operating a telecoms network or providing telecoms services in the UK Since individual licences were (largely) abolished in the UK in 2003, providers of electronic communications networks or services have operated subject to the General Conditions of Entitlement (aka General Conditions or GCs).
Reforming Openreach’s governance: Ofcom’s proposals
In my last post, I summarised Ofcom’s initial conclusions from its review of the UK digital communications market. One of Ofcom’s conclusions was that the …