Category: Regulation

While containing nothing totally new, the latest missive from the DCMS does give an almost pocket size summary of the many policies that have been announced in the last few years that impinge on the digital economy.

The tea and biscuits with Maria Miller MP we are sure was a much more pleasant affair than the interrogation by the Public Accounts Committee today of various people involved in the creation of a better broadband landscape in the UK.

It would seem that the meeting between Maria Miller MP, BT and several of the candidates for RCBF funding was a reasonably pleasant affair.

A letter passed onto Rory Cellan-Jones of the BBC has revealed that the debate over parental controls and how they are implemented may just be a do as I say job, rather than a true debate.

While Ofcom has mandated decreased costs for WLR and MPF line rentals for some time, they have had little effect on the actual retail cost which has been rising, but continued cuts are welcome and more significant cuts are being made to migration charges.

It seems that Sky is pushing the regulator Ofcom to make Openreach open up access to its FTTC service to give the 2nd largest retail provider in the UK more scope for unique products.

The growth of full LLU services has undermined the MAC process for switching providers, and increased the potential for slamming and Ofcom has slowly been working towards a solution with more information expected this summer.

The final 10%, or should that be the final 5% now that more funding has been announced has always been a fluid object, so it will be interesting to here about the outcome from a meeting with Maria Miller, BT and rural providers on 15th July.

With the GEA fibre products from Openreach now some four years old and take-up starting to accelerate Ofcom is moving to try and make migration between providers cheaper to encourage more competition.

The much publicised Online Child Safety summit has now taken place and it appears the outcome is that the four major providers in addition to some funding from Google will be contributing to the work of the IWF and CEOP.