UK telecoms regulation, Ofcom, General Conditions, numbering, spectrum, switching, enforcement
This article was published in February 2012 and reflects the regulatory position at that time. For current guidance on this topic, contact Bratby Law or see our latest insights. Following its initial consultation, Ofcom recently issued its assessment of future mobile competition and revised proposals for the auction of 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum…
Today’s blog post is courtesy of my friends and colleagues Clive Gringras and Claire Walker who have published a helpful guide to the new European Data Protection proposals. “Today, 25 January 2012, the European Commission unveiled its proposals for far reaching changes to EU privacy legislation. We foresee the Regulation being in force by 2015. Every aspect…
This article was published in January 2012 and reflects the regulatory position at that time. For current guidance on this topic, contact Bratby Law or see our latest insights. The judgement of India’s Supreme Court on 20 Jan in the Vodafone tax case, removes (at least for now) some of country-specific risk that has been…
Apologies to readers for the long hiatus between recent blog posts. With hindsight (and English understatement), I may have rather underestimated the time that would be taken up in relocating personally from London to Singapore to set up our office there. It is not without irony that I find the time to write this by…
Having recently relocated to Singapore to set up my firm’s first office in Asia, I have been rather quiet on the blogging front recently. This post serves as something of a reboot – the blog will continue with its theme of the intersection of business, law and regulation in the telecoms and technology sectors but…
Mobile payment is a topic close to my heart, so I am delighted to be joining a distinguished panel at the International Bar Association‘s annual conference in Dubai this afternoon to discuss developments in mobile payment from a comparative perspective. The session is being run jointly by the communications, banking and technology committees of the IBA…
On 7 October Ofcom announced that the already much delayed 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz Uk spectrum auctions would be delayed. This follows on from prior delays, but follows responses to Ofcom’s prior consultation that clearly raised significant issues. The next stage will be a further consultation by the end of the year with a decision…
This article was published in September 2011 and reflects the regulatory position at that time. For current guidance on this topic, contact Bratby Law or see our latest insights. Following consultation on its earlier proposals, last week Ofcom confirmed that it would update General Condition 9 so as to prohibit contracts that automatically renew at…
On 1 September 2011, Ofcom published a statement outlining its intention to permit the use of white space spectrum in some of the the bands currently used for TV (470-790 MHz). Ofcom’s policy will be implemented through a statutory instrument which will make relevant devices licence exempt. This is in contrast to the approach of…
On 19 August, the UK government (through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport or DCMS) started a consultation on proposed changes to the legislative framework for appeals against Ofcom’s decisions relating to electronic communications matters (aka telecoms.) The proposal is to insert a new sub-section into section 195 of the Communications Act 2003, which…
Today’s big news is Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility. What is fascinating is the logic for the deal. This is not a deal driven by customers or operating efficiencies; it is all about Motorola’s patents. The give-away is the final paragraph of Google’s announcement: “We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding…
Regular readers will have noticed that this blog has been rather quiet of late. Normal service will be resumed in September – for now my energies are being directed into writing up some original research on mobile money as well as a chapter on EU telecoms law for a textbook, so please bear with the rather…