UK telecoms regulation, Ofcom, General Conditions, numbering, spectrum, switching, enforcement
In short: Ofcom Plan of Work 2026/27, published on 20 March 2026, maps the year’s regulatory deliverables for telecoms and online services operators. Key items: the connectivity work programme in spring 2026, the Online Safety Act categorisation register and additional duties consultation in July 2026, four clustered spectrum decisions, and UK preparations for WRC-27. By…
In short: Telecoms security incident reporting could be recalibrated. Ofcom’s draft statement of policy under section 105Y of the Communications Act 2003, published on 12 May 2026 and out for consultation until 4 August 2026, proposes cell site thresholds for mobile reporting, a single-site trigger for rural areas, and a new severity taxonomy of critical,…
In short: DUAA smart data schemes operate under Part 1 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Section 2 lets the government make regulations requiring data holders to share customer data with authorised persons; section 4 does the same for business data. Sections 6, 7 and 8 add decision-makers, interface bodies and enforcement. The…
In short: The European Commission’s first review of the Digital Markets Act, published on 28 April 2026 as COM(2026) 178 final under Article 53 of the Regulation, concludes that the law is working and proposes no legislative amendment. Cloud computing and AI are named as the next enforcement focus. The UK runs a separate regime…
In short: Telecoms ombudsman regulatory powers do not exist as a separate statutory regime. Communications Ombudsman and CISAS are private bodies approved by Ofcom under section 54 of the Communications Act 2003 to resolve individual consumer complaints. Statutory regulatory and enforcement powers, including penalties up to 10 per cent of turnover, sit with Ofcom alone….
EU Merger Guidelines telecoms reset: the draft elevates scale, innovation and resilience as procompetitive factors. What it means for UK M&A with EU jurisdiction.
In short: DSIT set Ofcom’s regulatory direction for the next five years by designating its statement of strategic priorities for telecoms, spectrum and postal services on 27 April 2026. Under section 2B of the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom must have regard to it, and must say by 6 June 2026 what it proposes to do….
In short: FOIA section 44 keeps the disclosures regulated firms make to Ofcom in investigations and enforcement out of Freedom of Information requests. Babbs v The Information Commissioner & Ofcom [2026] UKFTT 389 (GRC) confirms that Communications Act 2003 section 393 covers voluntary as well as compulsory submissions, applies across telecoms, broadcasting and online safety,…
In short: An Ofcom information notice under section 135 or section 137A of the Communications Act 2003 carries a maximum penalty of £2 million, plus £500 per day for continuing contraventions, enforced through the section 138 contravention process. Five enforcement cases since 2021 (Colt, BT/Connected Nations, TikTok, Meta and the new BT investigation opened on…
In short: Altnet PIA, the Openreach product that lets operators build using its ducts and poles, is not new. It has been a regulated wholesale input since 2010, and the Electronic Communications Code requires operators to consider sharing apparatus more broadly. Two recent moves progress those arrangements. INCA’s Infrastructure Sharing Framework formalises operator-to-operator duct, pole…
CityFibre’s intervention in the CMA’s nexfibre/Substantial inquiry turns on local market definition. Why that question shapes Phase 2 risk and the altnet consolidation pipeline.
After a year of testing frontier AI models and legal-specific platforms, the problem was not capability but structure. A law firm cannot be built around a model. It needs a method in which AI operates under controlled, auditable workflows, with the lawyer as the final gate.