Fixed

UK proposes statutory backing for Huawei 5G ban

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On 24 November 2020, the UK Government started the legislative process for a new Telecoms (Security) law which will, when passed into law, provide statutory backing for their already announced policy objective to exclude Huawei (and potentially other ‘high risk vendors’) from the UK’s 5G (and other) networks on the grounds on national security. This …

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Europe proposes lower voice termination rates

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On 25 August 2020, the European Commission proposed a regulation to set Europe-wide (lower) voice termination rates of 0.2 euro cents per minute for mobile voice and 0.07 euro cents per minute for fixed voice. The introduction of these new termination rate ceilings are subject to: a three year ‘glide path’ (to 1 Jan 2024) …

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UK confirms it will mostly implement new EU telecoms law (despite Brexit)

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On 22 July 2020, the UK government confirmed that it would largely implement the European Electronic Communications Code – the EU’s updated, harmonised regulatory framework for telecoms – into UK law by 21 December 2020. This confirms the approach from that first announced in July 2019, providing welcome certainty, despite a change in the leader …

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How will Ofcom’s role change in 2020?

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On 30 April 2020 Ofcom published its work plan for 2020/21, which flags two new material upcoming changes in its role for 2020: becoming the regulator for on-line harms (aka dealing with ‘fake news’ on social media) enforcing the UK’s policy to limit/exclude Chinese network vendors from UK 5G network deployment. Ofcom explains: “…the UK …

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Ofcom consults on revision of (half of) UK’s general authorisation conditions

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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.

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UK wayleave reform to create a £1bn windfall for telecoms operators

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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.

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Ofcom to review and update General Conditions of Entitlement affecting all communications providers operating in the UK

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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).

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Reforming Openreach’s governance: Ofcom’s proposals

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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 functional separation of BT’s Openreach division (which provides last mile access)  from the rest of BT, and the associated regulation of the relationship between BT and Openreach (implemented by binding undertakings) was …

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Ofcom’s UK digital communications review: BT can keep Openreach (for now…)

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On 25 February 2016 Ofcom published its initial conclusions from its strategic review of the UK’s digital communications market. Whilst much of the headline press coverage has focused on BT being able to retain Openreach, provided its governance is reformed, Ofcom’s review goes much wider than the regulation of Openreach and sets the strategic direction for UK …

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