February 21st 2006
By: Roger Darlington
The figures on Internet connectivity issued today by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) provide good news and bad news.
The good news is that broadband take-up is storming ahead and now accounts for almost two-thirds of all Net users in the UK (the actual figure is 64.2%). The bad ...
February 21st 2006
By: Russ
As everyone probably knows, Ofcom was created in 2002-2003 through the merger of five existing regulators in the media and communications sector. While this is not terribly unique in the overall scheme of things, public sector mergers will increase in the future as the UK comes to grips with ...
February 19th 2006
By: Russ
In response to Roger Darlington's excellent post on Ofcom's consultation process, we received the following comment:
Given the complexity of most Ofcom consultations, in so many different ways, would Ofcom really take consultations from random members of the public all that seriously? Or indeed should it?
Specifical factual comments are of course ...
February 17th 2006
By: Luke
In an exclusive Ofcomwatch interview, John Whittingdale, MP has revealed that the Culture, Media and Sport Committee (of which he is Chairman) and the Trade and Industry Select Committee have agreed to hold a joint session to scrutinise Ofcom's work, finances, and plans for the future.
The first joint session is ...
February 15th 2006
By: Luke
Ofcom Press Release follows -
Ofcom today set in train its first spectrum auction, announcing Tuesday 21 March 2006 as the provisional date for applications. It has now made the four statutory instruments relevant to this award ahead of an auction which will take place during March and April.
The ...
February 13th 2006
By: Luke
In a move that is unlikely to keep costs down - The Lawyer reports -
"...Ofcom has embarked on an aggressive recruitment drive to boost its in-house legal capacity to deal with policy issues. In particular, the regulator is facing a rising number of decisions which are appealed to the ...
February 13th 2006
By: Roger Darlington
Since Luke and Russ are probably too shy to bring it to your attention, let me point out that today they have a letter in the Media section of the "Guardian":
The power of Google
John Halton (Whose words are they anyway?, February 6) adopts an overly legalistic perspective in his analysis ...
February 13th 2006
By: Luke
The Independent reports,
"Google has hired a "big gun" to help it spin away from a tight spot: New Labour's arch PR fixer, Tim Allan...His firm, Portland PR, has been engaged to lobby both the British government and the national media, following Google's decision to allow the Chinese government to censor ...
February 9th 2006
By: Yves Blondeel
In a speech made to the European Regulators Group (ERG) in Paris on 8 Feb 2006, the EC Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, announced that she had 'asked the European Commission services'...
'to start working on an EU regulation on international roaming charges � an EU Regulation that ...
February 8th 2006
By: Roger Darlington
Today Ofcom has published its long-awaited consultation document on consumer policy. The 98-page document (two research annexes are in a separate 73 page document) poses 16 questions and invites submissions by 19 April 2006. Throughout the thoughful and well-evidenced document, there are a number of references to the work of ...
