Ofcom announced yesterday the departure of competition partner Sean Williams, who heads to the Office of Fair Trading. Williams was once rumoured to be a candidate for the vacant CEO spot taken by Ed Richards. Williams, Carter, Meek, Foster… many of the original Ofcom senior team are now gone… we’ll see what effect that has on Ofcom’s deliberations.

Ofcom also released this consumer-focused research (81-page pdf) on the market impact of the BBC’s interactive media player. It’s interesting reading, but I get the feeling you could draw a number of reasonable policy conclusions from this type of data. The BBC Trust seems to have a lot of leeway here. Even Ofcom admit this type of data has limited value.

As for the BBC iPlayer (the name seems like an Apple ‘iTrademark’ lawsuit waiting to happen) as a whole, check here for the latest news on its approval.

And finally — TeleGeography announces:

“Nigeria’s telecoms and broadcast regulators are set to merge as part of reforms in the public sector, it was announced on Monday. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) will combine to form a new body, with a new name and legal framework to be established by Acts of Parliament. Frank Nweke Jr, the current head of the Ministry of Communications, said in Abuja that the new body was being created in line with policy designed to ‘avoid friction and duplication of responsibilities and duties’. No date has been set for the merger, but officials promised that all details will be made public soon.”

Avoiding friction — good plan! If you check out the NCC website, you’ll see that they have even nicer offices than Ofcom!