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The UK government has today proposed a new Statement of Strategic Priorities (SSP) for UK mobile and broadband services. This broadly requires Ofcom to deliver on existing targets, ensure a smooth copper to fibre network migration, monitor take-up of gigabit-capable broadband, distribute radio spectrum fairly and facilitate infrastructure sharing etc.

The SSP reflects a legal mechanism that is underpinned by part of the Digital Economy Act 2017 and is designed to set out the strategic priorities to support growth, which Ofcom must have regard to when exercising its regulatory functions. The previous Conservative government set one of these for telecoms in 2019, and now it’s the new Labour government’s turn.

Broadly speaking, the proposed SSP does not offer much in the way of surprises and largely summarises targets and programmes that the government, industry and Ofcom were already in the process of doing. But such summaries can still be useful by virtue of helping people to see what broad issues and challenges are currently occupying the industry, as well as how much progress is being made on them.

The new consultation – due to run until 18th September 2025 – is thus seeking views on the government’s strategic priorities and desired outcomes for fixed and mobile digital infrastructure, the management of radio spectrum, telecoms consumers, telecoms security and resilience, and also.. postal services. But we’re only going to focus on the first four priorities for the telecoms sector and will skip the postal service one.

Proposed Statement of Strategic Priorities (2025)

Strategic Priority 1: Driving growth through world-class fixed and wireless digital infrastructure

The government wants all users to be able to enjoy the benefits of safe online spaces. The expectation cannot fall on users to take precautionary steps to avoid severely harmful content and keep themselves safe online. We want to see services that are safe by design, where features are chosen and designed to limit the risk of harm to users. This should be a basic principle for operating in the UK market.

The government ambition for telecoms is high. Over 87% of UK premises have access to a gigabit-capable connection and the government wants to see this extend to 99% by 2032. And while 4G connectivity across 95% of the UK’s landmass will help ensure that communities and business everywhere can benefit from good connectivity, our ambition is to go further and to have high quality, standalone 5G in all populated areas of the UK by 2030.

1a. supporting growth through access to gigabit-capable fixed telecoms connections

Ofcom’s regulatory regime has facilitated significant investment and growth in the fixed telecoms market. Building on this success, Ofcom should over the course of this Parliament ensure that the encouragement of investment and economic growth are key factors taken into account in its regulatory decisions.

There are a number of ways in which Ofcom can continue to support access to gigabit-capable fixed telecoms connections:

Ofcom should exercise its regulatory powers to take prompt steps to remedy actions which present a risk to effective competition. Ofcom should closely monitor Openreach’s commercial terms and pricing, given that Openreach benefits from economies of scale that new entrants cannot rely on yet. Ofcom should prevent Openreach from offering commercial arrangements that would have a detrimental effect on the establishment of sustained competition, while sustained competition is still developing in the market.

• Having several networks building in the same area is only the first step towards having established competition, and the government expects Ofcom to take a cautious approach when considering whether it is appropriate to remove remedies, so that competition can be maintained over time.
• Regulation should continue to support operators’ investment in the continued roll-out of fibre networks over the next 5 years and beyond. As such, Ofcom should ensure predictable and evidence-based regulatory decisions, focused on its core objectives of promoting competition and protecting consumers, and should monitor the impact of regulation on investment.
• Promoting investment and competition in the fixed telecoms market should continue to be prioritised over regulatory measures to further reduce retail prices in the near term.

To support broadband for businesses:

• Ofcom should continue to ensure that businesses across the country, including those in rural areas, are able to access the fast, reliable, and resilient broadband services they need to thrive. The regulator should work to ensure a healthy business connectivity market is treated as a priority, and in light of its growth duty, Ofcom should have regard to the impact on UK economic growth, as well as investment and competition in the telecoms sector, when assessing whether to introduce or remove regulatory remedies.

To support universal access:

• Ofcom should monitor pricing differences in gigabit-capable broadband between geographic areas and localities. For any areas of the UK with only one network operator Ofcom should, alongside government, consider steps to ensure consumers do not have to pay excessive prices due to a lack of local competition.
• The regulator should work with government to review the Broadband Universal Service Obligation and make any appropriate changes.

Infrastructure sharing:

Introducing unrestricted access to Openreach’s national network of underground ducts and poles via its Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product has transformed the competitive landscape of the UK fixed telecoms market. It is the government’s view that:

• Ofcom should ensure that Openreach continues to provide unrestricted access to its physical infrastructure to all communications providers on equivalent terms, unless it can demonstrate that a difference is justified.

To ensure sustainable long-term competition in the fixed telecoms market, Ofcom should ensure Openreach complies with the “no undue discrimination” condition set out in Ofcom’s Significant Market Power (SMP) conditions, thereby treating all communication providers in a fair and transparent way.

– Ofcom should closely and proactively monitor Openreach’s compliance with the no undue discrimination principle, so that communications providers have confidence that Ofcom takes allegations of anti-competitive behaviour seriously.

– Ofcom and the Openreach Monitoring Unit (OMU) should take reasonable and practicable steps to demonstrate transparency in its monitoring and enforcement activities, including by publishing regular reports on its work. This extends to demonstrating greater transparency in how Ofcom calculates and sets PIA prices. It is important that communications providers have confidence that Ofcom, and in particular the OMU, takes allegations of anti-competitive behaviour seriously. If Ofcom finds that Openreach is not complying with its regulatory obligations, it should consider all enforcement options to ensure compliance.

– Any changes to the PIA framework in the Telecoms Access Review should be proportionate, evidence-based, and support competition and investment within the fixed telecoms market. The regulator should also use the evidence received from industry to ensure the pricing model is fair and reasonable and publish an explanation for how the pricing is calculated.

– Beyond the PIA product, the regulator should work with network operators alongside the government to ensure that existing ducts and poles are shared wherever possible to minimise the duplication of broadband infrastructure.

To support the modernisation of telecoms networks:

• Ofcom should collaborate with the telecoms industry, government, and other partners (like the telecare sector) to ensure that there is no significant adverse impact on Critical National Infrastructure throughout modernisation programmes, and that vulnerable consumers are adequately protected. This entails actively monitoring the industry transition programmes of all providers to ensure providers put in place appropriate safeguards, including reporting of consumer harm, and taking measures where possible and necessary to avoid harm to vulnerable customers.
• The regulator should also ensure that these transitions do not have an adverse impact on wholesale competition.
• Consumers being switched from copper to fibre would benefit from having the appropriate level of information provided to them by their supplier regarding services offered by other networks and alerted to options which might be available to them.

To support take-up:

• Where appropriate, Ofcom should work with the government to support gigabit take-up and should report every 6 months on levels of take-up alongside reporting on coverage.
• Ofcom should continue to monitor the use of One Touch Switch and its success. More widely, the regulator should take all efforts to support effective and straightforward switching between providers in order to enable competition and enable more people to benefit from gigabit broadband.
• Ofcom should continue to support greater use of consistent terminology between providers.

1b. supporting growth and productivity through investment in high-quality 5G networks

Widespread deployment and adoption of high-quality 5G can help people become better connected and our businesses and public services to become more efficient and innovative. As 5G deployment is commercially driven, it is critical that government has the pro-investment policy and regulatory regime that will deliver the connectivity the UK’s citizens, businesses, and public services need in all areas of the country.

We are seeking Ofcom’s support in the following ways: ensuring effective competition; monitoring investment in 5G networks and the cost of regulation; and identifying any regulatory changes that may be needed.

To ensure effective competition:

• Ofcom should ensure that competition in the mobile market is working effectively and should proactively identify where it may not be. To support this:
• At appropriate intervals Ofcom should assess the technological developments and competitive dynamics shaping the mobile market and consider the impact this may have on operators’ ability to invest in network infrastructure.
• In considering competition issues in the market and how to address them, Ofcom should continue to work closely with the Competition and Markets Authority, under concurrent competition powers, on issues that cut across sectoral and competition concerns.
• Annual Licence Fees (ALFs) for mobile spectrum are set by Ofcom to reflect the market value of the spectrum based on its opportunity cost. This is intended to provide a long-term indication of the value of spectrum to incentivise its optimal use. As such, the ALF framework must support optimal market outcomes.

To monitor investment in 5G networks and the cost of regulation:

Commercial investment in high-quality 5G networks must be underpinned by a stable policy and regulatory framework. Investment in 5G should be closely monitored by Ofcom and appropriate options considered if it becomes clear that investment in networks is not being achieved at sustainable levels. In particular we would welcome regular reporting from Ofcom on the cost of regulation to industry, the impact of regulation on investment and whether the regulatory framework could be amended to better support long-term investment and growth in telecoms networks.

Building on the launch of the updated mobile coverage checker ‘Map Your Mobile’, Ofcom should continue to develop its coverage reporting of 4G and 5G networks and help track progress of the mobile network operators’ delivery of 4G across the UK’s landmass, including through the Shared Rural Network programme. Specifically, we have asked Ofcom to continue improving the quality of its coverage reporting on mobile network availability and quality, including by:

• keeping under review, and consider explicitly for each of its reports, its definitions of what constitutes “good” 4G and 5G and the signal strength thresholds it uses to measure this, so that these definitions continue to reflect consumer and business expectations as user requirements and behaviours evolve;
• provide coverage and performance data sets on a per county and per constituency basis;
• report on the availability of standalone 5G in the same way that it reports on the availability of 4G and combined standalone and non-standalone 5G; and
• provide specific coverage and performance data for the UK’s road and rail infrastructure in its reporting, based on drive and walk test measurements. Ofcom should consider working with local authorities, as well as third party organisations to gather this data.

We welcome Ofcom’s efforts to support widescale adoption of advanced 5G as this will drive significant economic benefits. Whilst any changes to the Open Internet Access regulations would be a decision for government, it is important Ofcom continue to support an approach to the open internet that fosters innovation by ISPs and the wider internet ecosystem, whilst protecting consumers.

• Ofcom should continue to work closely with government on net neutrality, including informing government of the impact the updates to net neutrality guidelines have had on the market to date and whether they consider any further changes are required.

Strategic Priority 2: Driving growth through maximising access to spectrum

We must continually strive to maximise access to and use of spectrum for the growing number of wireless applications across the economy. This will require a range of measures, including implementing new spectrum management techniques, adopting innovative technologies that enhance spectrum efficiency, and enhancing spectrum sharing, where appropriate. For example, dynamic and automated spectrum access could hold potential for more efficient spectrum access.

• The introduction of the spectrum sharing framework in 2019, including the availability of the 3.8-4.2 GHz band for shared access licences, was a pioneering step. Ofcom should continue to maintain and build on this innovative approach.
• Full automation of the licensing process for shared spectrum bands could unlock growth across different sectors. Ofcom should assess the potential of full automation of the shared access licences and explore how this might further reduce licensing approval times.
• Ofcom should continue work to ensure those who have an occasional need for shorter-term license durations, such as the Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) sector, are able to access these licences in a timely manner via the shared access bands.
• We encourage Ofcom to continue to support the evolution of spectrum access mechanisms and improvements in spectrum sharing. We expect learnings from initiatives such as DSIT’s spectrum sandboxes to inform future policy and regulatory decisions.

To support public sector spectrum access:

• The public sector is a major user of spectrum, in particular for defence. The government’s goal is to ensure that public sector users have access to the spectrum they need to support strategic government priorities and deliver critical services, while ensuring efficient use of spectrum and maximising opportunities to boost spectrum value and growth through sharing or release for commercial applications.
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• Following the conclusion of the Public Sector Spectrum Release Programme, DSIT is working across departments and with Ofcom to implement a new public sector spectrum framework. Ofcom will continue to have a crucial role to play in this framework, including through proactive cooperation with relevant government departments and agencies to understand their strategic requirements, by providing regular reports to government on emerging civil demand, and by inputting to relevant boards.

To ensure Emergency Services, transport, and utility sector telecommunications needs are met:

• Ofcom should ensure that Emergency Services Network requirements and the safety of life and other related implications are factored into decisions on spectrum allocation as appropriate.

Ofcom should continue to engage with government and other relevant stakeholders to identify the telecommunications needs and any potential spectrum requirements across transport and different utility sectors. Ofcom has an important role to play in ensuring the appropriate solution is identified.

To support spectrum for audio and video Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE): 

PMSE refers to the use of wireless devices for creating content and managing events, this includes equipment such as wireless cameras and microphones. There has been a steady rise in the use of PMSE audio and video services, which are crucial for the creative industries (e.g. film and TV production, theatre, and concerts) and sports events.

• Ofcom should undertake and publish a review of spectrum requirements and technological trends for audio and video PMSE.

To support the Future of Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT):

• Ofcom is proactively engaging with the government on the Future of TV Distribution Project. We encourage Ofcom to continue this engagement, including to ensure that there is appropriate consideration given to both the potential value of the spectrum and the need to continue serving audiences.
• Ofcom should also advise government of the possible impact of any decisions taken on the future of TV distribution on the PMSE sector, to ensure that these users that deliver significant value to the UK creative sectors continue to have suitable access to spectrum.

To support space sector ambitions:

• Access to appropriate spectrum is essential for enabling a resilient, competitive, and innovative UK space sector that delivers real benefits to citizens and ensures secure capabilities. Shaping the international spectrum framework so that it supports the space services that we rely on, including space science services, and ensures that the UK space industry can thrive globally, should be a priority for Ofcom.
• Ofcom’s spectrum management should enable the development of UK capabilities in space domain awareness, in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacture, space data applications, position, navigation and timing services, and satellite communications.

To maximise influence in international spectrum negotiations:

• Global coordination and management of spectrum use is essential to ensure efficient allocation and use of spectrum, protect users against harmful interference and enable economies of scale and interoperability across regions.
• We want to work collaboratively with our allies and global partners in international fora to establish common interests, advocate for UK interests, and push for an international framework on spectrum that works for the UK, Europe and globally.
• Ofcom should be cognisant of UK government objectives when representing the UK and advocating for the UK’s interests and strategic objectives at international fora. This includes continuing to work closely with the government to ensure that strategic priorities, such as national security and resilience, are appropriately considered and reflected throughout international negotiations. Relevant fora include the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT).

Fit for purpose regulatory regime:

• We expect Ofcom to proactively update government on changes to the suitability of the current spectrum management framework and the scope for legislative updates to support advancements in regulatory tools.
• Ofcom should continue to regularly review and report on its performance against its statutory duties and objectives in carrying out its spectrum management functions.

Strategic priority 3: Supporting growth through a transparent, competitive, and fair retail market

• The government supports Ofcom’s shift in focus towards monitoring and evaluating consumer-focused interventions and would see merit in Ofcom evaluating the impact and costs of regulatory interventions collectively.
• It is important that overall satisfaction is sustained and improved where possible. Ofcom, where appropriate, should work with operators to address specific concerns about customer care.  This includes ensuring complaint handling processes are fit for purpose and ensuring that the routes available for consumers to escalate their concerns, such as Alternative Dispute Resolution services, are clear and offer a consistent experience for customers.
• As part of its existing duty to monitor the affordability of telecoms services, Ofcom should continue to undertake analysis on the state of the market and establish a regular and consistent reporting cycle, able to highlight trends and changes over time.
• Ofcom should continue to explore other steps which may improve consumer confidence in new and emerging broadband and mobile retail providers. For example, among other things, by focusing on providers compliance with their regulatory obligations and – where appropriate – encouraging them to sign up to voluntary approaches such as the automatic compensation scheme.
• Ofcom should continue to work with telecoms operators to identify and address the vulnerabilities in telecoms networks that are exploited by criminals, and we expect further close collaboration with government over the coming years.
• Ofcom will be an important stakeholder in helping to assess the potential merits of establishing a Smart Data scheme in telecoms, including determining the costs and benefits of such a scheme for industry.

To support digital inclusion:

• This government believes in opportunity for all and recognises that robust connectivity for individuals and businesses, irrespective of their location, is a vital enabler of digital inclusion, which sits at the heart of our plans. However, digital inclusion encompasses more than merely affording and accessing broadband or mobile service. Ofcom holds significant influence, and the government encourages it to leverage this position to promote safe digital participation. As outlined in the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, UK regulators have a vital role in protecting and informing the public. The government would encourage Ofcom to consider how they can best contribute to addressing digital exclusion, including collaboration with other regulators where appropriate.

To support vulnerable consumers:

• The government would like to see Ofcom to continue to take all opportunities to improve the consumer experience in the telecoms sector, particularly for vulnerable consumers, including those with disabilities and those who are financially vulnerable.
• The government would like to see a more consistent approach across the sector to vulnerability, and Ofcom might consider lessons learnt during the COVID pandemic, the rise in the cost of living, and the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) migration to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), to encourage operators to adopt a more consistent approach and where possible share data to ensure that vulnerable consumers are accurately identified, and getting a consistent level of support.
• Ofcom should continue to work with other sector regulators and government to establish the best way to achieve a cross-sector method to identify and support vulnerable consumers.

To support the consumer voice:     

• It is essential that regulations are informed by the groups and individuals they are likely to impact.
• Ofcom should continue to make additional efforts to engage with those groups likely to be affected by regulatory changes, including individual businesses and residential customers. The Communications Consumer Panel maintains an important role ensuring the interests of consumers are represented. It needs to be suitably informed and engaged on issues likely to affect consumers of telecoms services and their views and opinions should be given due weight.

Strategic priority 4: Maximising opportunities for growth through secure and resilient telecoms infrastructure

The government, Ofcom and the telecoms industry must work together to ensure the UK’s publicly available networks and services, including relevant land-based and subsea infrastructure, are appropriately and proportionately protected against threats and hazards. They must also be able to respond effectively to disruptive incidents affecting the UK’s networks or services.

To achieve these objectives, the government advocates a proactive regulatory approach to the security and resilience of telecoms networks and services. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 and associated Electronic Communications (Security Measures) Regulations 2022, have placed new security obligations on public telecoms providers. Ofcom is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with these legal obligations, including:

• Assessing the security practices of larger telecoms providers. This includes ensuring providers are complying with their relevant security duties and using Ofcom’s powers to request and review relevant information, interview technical and management staff and observe work on company premises.
• Taking action where security is, or is at risk of being, compromised. The Act requires telecoms providers to report security compromises to Ofcom. Where a compromise is reported, or where Ofcom considers there a risk of it occurring, Ofcom can require the provider to inform the affected people and businesses. Where Ofcom has reasonable grounds for believing that the compromise or risk of it occurring results from a breach of a security duty, it can require providers to take action to limit or mitigate the incident’s impact.
• Making information available to the government, including through annual security reports. Ofcom must provide specific annual security reports to the government, in addition to updates on general network security and resilience as part of its existing infrastructure reports.

It is crucial that the networks that provide electronic communication services are resilient to disruption. The government’s resilience priorities in this area include:

• Power resilience: power resilience of telecoms networks and services is a cross-sectoral challenge. Ofcom’s work on power resilience could include gathering and analysing data from mobile operators, the power sector and other relevant sources; examining what measures in the mobile access network may be appropriate and proportionate; and developing additional guidance as required. It will also be important for Ofcom to work closely with communications providers, the government and the power sector on collaborative efforts that reduce the likelihood of power cuts leading to a loss of services and reduce the impact of any loss of services to consumers.

Incident reporting and publication of outage data: the procedures for communications providers to report security and resilience incidents is kept up-to-date, and that the data provided to the public on incidents, which is currently in the form of a summary text in the annual Connected Nations report, is more detailed, interactive, and transparent.  This will help the public understand the picture in their local area and allow Government and stakeholders to better understand issues and trends, both of which may drive better performance and outcomes for the public.

• Satellite emergency calls: Ofcom should ensure that access to emergency services via 999/112 through all spectrum adheres to the same regulations as mobile and fixed line communications.
• Net zero and climate adaptation: Ofcom should continue to support HMG’s wider duty under the Climate Change Act 2008 to assess the risks of climate change and set out its policies for meeting those objectives, through Ofcom’s existing work under the Communications Act 2003. This includes continuing to provide resilience standards and guidance to communications providers to ensure they are adopting measures which factor climate change implications into their network planning and decision making to maintain network and service reliability.
• Secure, resilient, and innovative telecoms supply chains: a healthy and diverse supply chain for the technology that goes into the UK’s telecoms networks is essential for security and resilience – ensuring that UK network operators can deliver good, reliable connectivity for all. Innovation in future telecoms technologies – one of the critical technologies identified by government – will also drive growth. Ofcom should provide a regulatory environment that supports operators to adopt innovation in their supply chain so that the UK is seen as a leading place to develop these technologies.

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In a not particularly surprising development, the UK government has today chosen Eutelsat’s global network of OneWeb ultrafast broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to help provide “resilient, high-speed, low-latency connectivity” to their global operations – delivered through distribution partner NSSLGlobal.

OneWeb, which readers may recall was originally rescued from bankruptcy by the UK government and Bharti Global before later becoming a part of Eutelsat – with concessions (here), currently has 654 small (c.150kg) first generation (GEN1) LEO platforms in space – orbiting at an altitude of 1,200km (c.600 of them for coverage and the rest for redundancy). Plans also exist to “extend the constellation by a further 100 satellites by 2026” (here).

Crucially, the UK government last week agreed to commit a further £140m (€163.3) of public investment to help Eutelsat grow and expand this constellation, which gives them a 10.89% share in the business. Today the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has followed that up by signing an agreement that will see OneWeb’s network delivering vital global connectivity for the government.

The new “strategic partnership” will support a broad range of critical government activities worldwide – including deploying OneWeb’s terminals to diplomatic missions (e.g. British Embassies, High Commissions, and Consulates), policing, resilience, defence and other essential operations.

Mike Astell, CEO of FCDO Services, said:

“This partnership marks an exciting new chapter in FCDO Services’ long history of providing secure satellite communications. By joining forces with NSSLGlobal and Eutelsat OneWeb, we’re enhancing our ability to deliver rapid, secure connectivity anywhere in the world. This reinforces our commitment to meeting the unique needs of our government customers.”

OneWeb’s future GEN2 satellites are widely also expected to have more data capacity (faster broadband speeds), support for 5G mobile and may, possibly, also introduce enhanced navigation and positioning features (GNSS). The satellites are expected to adopt a higher Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) of 8,500km, but we’re still awaiting the final details.

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London-focused network operator and ISP Vorboss, which runs a 100Gbps speed full fibre network in the UK’s capital city, has today announced the expansion of their managed service and cybersecurity offerings via two strategic acquisitions – Optimity (managed services) and 40fi (cybersecurity), and an investment in Layer8 (network management for commercial real estate).

Just to recap. The operator has so far completed the deployment of a 700km long dedicated point-to-point fibre optic network across Central London (covering most of zones 1 and 2), which we’re told is enough to connect all commercial buildings in the area to their direct internet access and Ethernet network.

The company’s latest strategic move – acquiring three additional businesses across the associated sectors for an undisclosed sum – is thus intended reflect the growing demand for comprehensive, resilient services from a single partner – particularly in light of the increasing complexity of cybersecurity threats and IT infrastructure.

The deal includes 40fi, a cybersecurity business, and Optimity, a provider of managed IT services. Together, these acquisitions bring an additional 80 experienced professionals into the Vorboss team, enhancing the company’s ability to deliver end-to-end solutions for London’s businesses. Vorboss has also welcomed the hundreds of customers that Optimity and 40fi serve across the UK today.

In addition, Vorboss has also invested in Layer8, a software platform that enables building operators to automate, manage, and monetise their networks. Designed for commercial real estate environments, Layer8 gives building managers, managed service providers (MSPs), and non-technical users simple, secure control over on-site network infrastructure.

Tim Creswick, CEO of Vorboss, told ISPreview:

“Vorboss has a long history in managed services, but for the last 6 years, our focus has been on delivering the best enterprise fibre network London has ever seen. That has been a huge project, commanding millions of hours of labour from our team, and we are now connecting thousands of business customers to that network – all at 10Gbps and above.

I’m excited that we’re now able to return to some of our managed services roots, with the timely addition of cybersecurity services. These are things that our customers and partners ask us about all the time. As operators of extensive, high-capacity infrastructure, we have a huge amount of real expertise in-house already, so customers know that they’re getting advice from real practitioners, not just consultants.”

Customers of the provider will now gain the option to purchase a complete suite of managed IT, cybersecurity, and connectivity services – either bundled together or individually, to suit their requirements. Vorboss will also extend these new capabilities to their channel partners, enabling them to expand their own offerings.

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Geemarc Telecom, which specialises in the manufacture and sale of products that help hearing-impaired and visually impaired users, has produced an interesting new twist on the humble Analogue Terminal Adapter (ATA) that allows people to plug their old home phone handsets directly to a 4G mobile broadband network. But that isn’t its only trick.

The UK is currently going through a significant shift in digital communications services, which among other things includes the turbulent withdrawal of more traditional analogue telephone methods (PSTN / POTS) in favour of digital internet (IP / VoIP) based alternatives. For many people, this means plugging their old home phone(s) into the back of a broadband router instead of the wall socket.

Failing that, if your router can’t do this or your ISP won’t supply it, then you can always buy an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) device (e.g. Grandstream HT-802) for around £50, which acts as a VoIP bridge between your router and old phone handset(s). You could also buy a dedicated VoIP / IP phone handset (e.g. Yealink SIP-T33P), but that’s not necessary (these will usually connect to your router via a LAN port or WiFi).

However, Geemarc has recently introduced a new twist on the ATA – the CL2000 4G telephone adapter, which doesn’t need to connect via your existing home broadband router and instead connects directly to a 4G mobile network of your choosing (take note that some – not all – sellers ship it with an EE sim, but the device is designed to work with any mobile operator).

The CL2000 is essentially a mini mobile (MiFi) router and ATA in one unit, which means that it can also operate as a limited Wi-Fi hotspot (max speed of 150Mbps) for your other devices. On top of that, Geemarc also had the good idea of including a 4000mAh back-up battery into the unit in case of a power cut (10 hours in use or 40 hours in standby).

Setting all of this up to use a mobile phone number is practically Plug & Play, although it’s likely to be a little bit more involved if you want to retain your existing home phone number. Some third-party services do exist for transferring your home phone number to a 4G SIM card, but novice users may require some help with all this and the approach can mean extra costs.

Geemarc informs ISPreview that they began bringing the CL2000 to market a few short months ago and will be selling them on Amazon within the “next few weeks“, although we’ve seen a few unfamiliar retailers selling them for around the £65 mark (inc. VAT). The fact this device is portable also helps to safeguard against changes of Care Home room or addresses, as you’d simply take it with you (assuming the new location gets a mobile signal).

Despite the positives, we do find ourselves wishing it included a LAN (Ethernet) port, as well as an extra phone socket, and we couldn’t see any mention of being able to work directly with custom VoIP providers/profiles. We’re trying to clarify the latter point at the moment (will update later), as the ability to input your own VoIP / SIP account details is usually a key function for a good ATA.

Admittedly it’s technically already possible to use a regular ATA with a 4G/5G mobile network, but this would require the home broadband router you’re connecting with to actually support mobile data (either directly or via a USB dongle) and is overall a more complex setup. The above device does this without all of that, which is very handy, but obviously the seeming lack of VoIP / SIP profiles is a shortcoming.

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The UK internet content and telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed changes that will require phone providers to withhold the Caller ID (CLI) of calls that appear to come from a UK mobile roaming abroad unless they can verify its validity. The goal is to tackle scam calls by cracking down on number “spoofing“.

Just to recap. Most of the country’s major broadband, phone and mobile providers have already implemented various technical measures to tackle Nuisance Calls and Scam Calls. But these aren’t always 100% effective, and not all operators have introduced the same level of protections. Suffice to say, there’s still plenty of scope for improvement, and so Ofcom have been gradually introducing further changes.

For example, at the start of 2025 the regulator implemented changes that aimed to block scammers who call from abroad and imitate UK landline numbers (i.e. spoofed calls), which imposed stricter measures against “Presentation Numbers” (here). The move was useful because otherwise potential victims might trust a UK number more than an international one, and thus related calls are more likely to be answered.

However, the above change only worked for landlines, and today’s new proposal is intended to extend that to tackle spoofed mobile numbers. This is because there is currently an exemption from blocking calls from abroad that display a UK mobile caller ID, which exists to allow people who are roaming abroad to display their number to family and friends when they call them.

Ofcom’s research reveals that, in February 2025, 42% of phone users said they received a suspicious call in the last three months and people are more trusting of calls coming from UK mobile numbers (+447) than they are of calls from withheld or international numbers. Some 26% said they were likely or very likely to pick up a call from an unrecognised UK mobile number, compared to just 9% who would answer a call showing an international number with an unrecognised country code.

Marina Gibbs, Ofcom’s Policy Director for Networks and Communications, said:

“Customers endure a barrage of scam calls, and when people get caught out, the consequences can be devastating. It can happen to anyone, with criminal gangs in other countries trying to exploit people when their guard is down.

The work we’ve collectively already done has led to a million calls a day being blocked, but there’s no silver bullet, and we’re always looking for new ways to shore up our defences in the fight against fraud. These new measures would provide further protection for people in the UK.”

Ofcom’s Proposal

UK communications providers should withhold the Presentation Number of calls that appear to come from UK mobile users roaming abroad, except where they can verify the validity of the caller.

We are proposing to amend our CLI Guidance to set out how we expect providers to process calls from abroad that appear to come from UK mobile (+447) numbers.

When these calls first reach a UK provider (including entities acting as international gateways), the provider should modify the call’s CLI data to mark the CLI Presentation Number as ‘withheld’.

UK providers should have arrangements in place with their roaming partner networks so that calls to the UK that their customers make while roaming abroad are routed via the customer’s ‘home’ network (i.e. the network of the UK provider in question). After the call’s Presentation Number is marked as withheld, the home network should then modify the CLI data of calls from customers who are genuinely roaming abroad, so that the call recipient can see who is calling them, where technically feasible (and unless the caller has elected to withhold their number).

This two-step process will remove the ability of scammers outside the UK to present a spoofed UK mobile (+447) Presentation Number to people and businesses in the UK. This is because no home network will be able to verify the validity of these calls and therefore the Presentation Number will appear as withheld.

We expect the effect of this measure to be that UK people and businesses receive significantly fewer calls from scammers that appear to come from UK mobile users, although scammers may still be able to send messages from UK SIMs which they manage to source and use from overseas destinations. In turn, this will reduce the likelihood that people engage with scam calls and lose money.

Ofcom intends to consult on this until 13th October 2025 and will then publish their final decision during “early 2026“. After that, UK mobile operators would be given 12 months to introduce the changes, which is needed to “give providers the opportunity to modify agreements with roaming partner networks to have their customers’ calls routed via the UK provider’s network, where such agreements are not already in place“.

The challenge in all of this invariably stems from the inherent problem of implementing such rules without also over-blocking legitimate calls and messages. But this should become easier once all such services have gone digital (IP-based) as new methods will then become viable (e.g. CLI Authentication [CLIa] – here).

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Digital entertainment platform Netgem TV has this morning announced that their IPTV box and service, which is usually bundled by broadband ISPs like Brsk, TalkTalk, CommunityFibre, Wightfibre and others, has expanded its range of FAST Channels to total 250 across the UK, France, Switzerland and Gibraltar.

The set-top-boxes that Netgem provide – like the Netbox 4K (inc. HDR, bluetooth pairing, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, USB and Dolby Atmos sound) – tend to be similar to some of those supplied by rival video streaming companies and include an often-familiar array of premium content, apps (iPlayer, itvx, 5, UKTV play, Amazon Prime Video etc.), live TV channels (Freeview) and catch-up content.

Like a lot of those other streaming platforms, Netgem also includes support for Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels, which are special dedicated channels that tend to only offer content and schedules based on either a single TV show or theme.

The main development today is that Netgem has recently partnered with various new content distributors, such as Rakuten TV, Zee, Global Fan Network and others. This development expands Netgem’s offering to include a total of 250 FAST Channels.

Sylvain Thevenot, MD of Netgem Pleio, said:

“Netgem FAST Lane’s momentum continues by forging deeper ties with Rakuten TV and Banijay Rights, alongside exceptional new content from partners like Zee Entertainment, GFN, and VOD365. This proves the attractiveness of our distribution model with Telecom Operators”.

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Ofcom has today warned that “traditional public-service TV is endangered” as more UK broadband users turn to online streaming platforms like YouTube. The regulator has thus published a new six-point action plan to tackle this, which includes urging broadcasters to make their content “easy to find and discover” on third-party platforms.

In 2024, the regulator states that 60% of all individuals viewed YouTube videos over their home broadband connection. Recent growth was driven by viewing on connected TVs with 42% of in-home YouTube viewing on the TV set (up from 34% in 2023) now that more than seven in ten households have connected TVs.

In addition, older audiences are also increasingly turning to YouTube, for example 75 year-olds and over now watch an average of ten minutes of YouTube a day (an increase of 46% since 2022). Suffice to say that the old model of content distribution, such as via terrestrial signals or specially controlled platforms (e.g. Freely), is under “serious threat” and requires some adaption.

Audience choice is now wider than it’s ever been, while broadcasters are experiencing fundamental financial challenges and structural change in the advertising market. And in this environment, public service broadcasters are finding it much harder to fund the production and distribution of quality UK content to all audiences.

However, Ofcom warns “there is no silver bullet that will address the challenges that the sector is facing“, and so they’ve proposed six recommendations – requiring a collective effort from public service broadcasters (PSB), social media and video sharing platforms, the Government, and of course the regulator itself.

Ofcom’s Six Point Action Plan

1. Prominence and discoverability for PSM content on the third-party platforms that audiences increasingly turn to. To deliver on this:

➤ The PSBs need to keep adapting to audience preferences by constantly challenging themselves to test and iterate new ways of distributing and creating content for diverse audience groups.

➤  It is critical that the PSBs and YouTube work together to ensure that PSB content is prominent on its service, and on fair commercial terms. This is important for PSM to continue to connect with all audiences, particularly for news, which supports democracy, and for UK children’s programming which helps young audiences learn and grow.

➤ The Government should consider whether this needs to be underpinned by legislation. This would require significant work but would give prominence for PSB content on YouTube statutory backing, just as the Media Act provides PSB players prominence on connected TVs and other devices.

➤  More widely, the Government may wish to explore prominence for news on social media and other platforms, even though implementation would be complex and would need to reflect the different ways that platforms promote content to users. In the meantime, the PSBs need to work with other VSPs and social media platforms to ensure their content is available and easily discovered by users.

2. Stable and adequate funding to sustain a broad range of PSM content, including trusted and accurate news, and programmes that showcase the diversity of the whole of the UK and bring the country together:

➤ Stakeholders have called for a range of measures to support funding for PSM content like levies and changes to tax credits to fund specific PSM genres. It is for the Government to consider these, and to lead work on the future funding of the BBC through its Charter Review. However, if there is to be new funding we recommend that it should prioritise genres that are socially valuable but commercially less viable and attract lower advertising revenues, such as news, local news and children’s programming.

➤ Content creators need to earn a fair return for their work on third-party platforms, including when used to train GenAI services. The Government is considering responses to its consultation on AI and copyright. The CMA has also recently opened a consultation on Google Search, which includes a number of potential interventions that should help improve commercial terms for content creators who rely on search.

➤ Ofcom’s regulation will continue to support the provision of content that reflects the diversity of the UK – particularly in the nations and regions – including through targeted and proportionate quotas.

3. Urgent clarity on how TV will be distributed in the future.

The PSBs are required to be universally available. As viewers increasingly move online, they have to broadcast over Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) while also investing in distribution across multiple platforms. In this context, delivering content over DTT is quickly moving from being one of the PSBs’ most valuable benefits to a significant cost. These resources could otherwise be used to both create PSM content and experiment with strategies for engaging all audiences in a rapidly evolving sector.

➤ Last year Ofcom published a review of the options for the future of DTT including implications for spectrum use and digital infrastructure. We said a decision by Government would be needed within the next two years and we continue to believe a decision in early 2026 would allow sufficient time. A later decision risks undermining the investment and innovation needed to put universal TV distribution on a sustainable footing inclusive of all audiences.

4. More ambitious partnerships amongst the PSBs.

Modern media organisations need technology to reach audiences and compete with global platforms who they depend on in some cases to reach viewers. Scale is critical for the PSBs’ and domestic broadcasters’ ability to connect with all audiences in a fast-moving sector:

➤ The PSBs (and other UK providers) will need to be ambitious in pursuing new strategic partnerships – in technology and how they reach audiences.

➤ Regulators, including Ofcom, need to assess any mergers or partnerships in the context of an up-to-date assessment of market conditions, recognising there continues to be fundamental change in the sector.

➤ In its Creative Industries Sector Plan the Government has asked the CMA, supported by Ofcom, to assess how sector changes could affect the approval of “strategic partnerships or possible consolidation between broadcasters which may benefit their financial sustainability and audiences.”

5. Investment in media literacy is vital for everyone’s ability to use digital services and to understand and critically engage with news and content.

Media literacy is, defined as the ability to use, understand and create media and communications across multiple formats and services. With the emergence of new technologies (including new forms of AI) the media landscape is only going to get more complex and personalised. Broadcasters are in a unique place to support audiences to critically engage with news content from a range of sources, distinguish fact from fiction, provide transparency about how they establish facts and raise awareness about conspiracy theories and prevalent fraud schemes. To help audiences develop their media and digital literacy skills:

➤  The PSBs need to invest and contribute to media literacy in the UK and use their distinctive and trusted relationship with audiences to give them confidence to use digital services.

➤  The BBC plays a further role, supporting media literacy through its children’s education initiatives. It is also considering how it can further support young people’s digital literacy skills so they can better assess trusted information and recognise disinformation.

➤ Alongside broadcasters, online platforms including social media and VSPs, should enable media literacy by design. This autumn Ofcom will publish a Statement of Recommendations under the Online Safety Act, setting out how online platforms and broadcasters can empower their users to understand and engage with online media and services.

➤ Ofcom has longstanding duties to promote media literacy and support others to carry out media literacy activities. But when it comes to the curriculum and education spending, it is for Governments – in Westminster and the nations – to ensure that the modern education system gives children and adults the skills they need for the future.

6. Streamlined regulation which strips away any outdated unnecessary restrictions.

The majority of the current legislative and regulatory framework was designed for a linear world. It needs a fundamental review to determine what is required to support audiences as they shift their viewing and listening online and to encourage growth and innovation.

➤ Ofcom is already implementing the Media Act which provides critical support for the PSBs, in particular through giving them greater flexibility to meet their obligations across their linear and online services and making their on-demand players prominent on connected TVs.

➤ We are also working with Government on its BBC Charter review which will play a central role in supporting the future of PSM.

➤ In parallel, we will review our regulation of broadcast TV and radio. We will seek input from stakeholders about the priority areas for reforming regulation and supporting the future provision of PSM content. We will look at what further reform is needed to ensure regulation supports all audiences benefitting from PSM content in the future and how we can ensure audiences are protected from harm wherever they are. This may involve legislative change as well as changes to our regulation.

➤ Before the end of the year, we will publish a comprehensive call for evidence on the work we are intending to do.

If no action is taken, Ofcom states that “the very existence of the PSBs will be threatened” and that “time is running out to save this pillar of UK culture and way of life“.

Cristina Nicolotti Squires, Ofcom’s Broadcasting and Media Group Director, said:

“Public service media is stitched into the cultural fabric of UK society. It starts conversations, educates and informs, and brings us together in moments of national importance.

But in a world dominated by global streaming platforms, public service media risks becoming an endangered species, and time is running out to intervene to protect it.

Our six-point plan would involve collective action from broadcasters, online platforms, the Government and Ofcom. It maps out a clear route that would help sustain public service media for the future.”

The issues that Ofcom are touching on above naturally flow into the often-divisive debate over the future of TV distribution in general (here) and at what point it may become necessary to start switching off the old terrestrial signals in favour of a broadband-only delivery model. Not to mention future funding and the TV licence fee, which is always a “fun” topic and still the subject of much debate.

The PSBs currently support a transition to IPTV in the 2030s as it is becoming increasingly challenging “to bear double costs from running multiple distribution platforms”. However, without intervention, by 2040, some 5% of homes (1.5 million) are currently forecast to still be relying on digital terrestrial television via the airwaves.

The regulator clearly warns that the time for debating such issues is fast running out, and the time for decisions is now upon the government. “Without PSBs there would be significantly less UK content and there is a risk that society becomes ever more fragmented and polarised,” claimed Ofcom. But taking those decisions will undoubtably come with a whole can of worms.

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The National Farmers Union (NFU) has published the results from their annual digital access survey of 661 members (conducted between February and March 2025), which found that just 33% of farmers had access to “fibre broadband” speeds and nearly one out of ten respondents have no 4G or 5G mobile access.

Farmers naturally tend to work in some of the United Kingdom’s most sparse and remote rural areas, which frequently end up being last on the list to be upgraded (if they’re improved at all), due to the economic challenges of building expensive networks to cater for so few users over a wide area. As such, the fact that they suffer a greater proportion of connectivity problems will come as no surprise, but the digital divide has shrunk a lot in recent years.

The new survey further reveals that 21% of farmers have fixed broadband speeds under 10Mbps – compared to the national average of less than 1%, while only 22% report getting reliable mobile signal across their entire farm. Yet nearly all respondents say mobile signal (98%) and broadband (91%) are important for their business.

The coverage of both mobile and fixed broadband services does of course continue to improve with every passing year, but this won’t mean much to those who are waiting for better connectivity to arrive. Admittedly in some areas it’s also possible that a better service could already exist, but that the locals may not have realised yet (awareness is still a common issue), although the NFU’s survey doesn’t examine this.

Additional Survey Highlights

➤ 54% of respondents believe that the mobile signal they receive is sufficient for the needs of their business

➤ 63% of respondents believe their broadband speed is sufficient for the needs of their business

➤ 61% of respondents access the internet through their mobile

➤ 33% of respondents have “fibre” (the survey doesn’t define if this includes both FTTC and FTTP)

➤ 7% of respondents have a download speed of 2Mbps or less

➤ 12% of respondents are reached by “ultrafast” broadband (this is not defined in the news summary)

The Government would no doubt argue that they’re continuing to improve mobile and broadband connectivity, such as via the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project to improve 4G connectivity that recently delivered on its first target ahead of schedule and will continue to expand its reach until January 2027 (here).

The goal of the SRN is to expand 4G coverage to 90% in England, 74% in Scotland, 80% in Wales and 85% in N.Ireland when looking at coverage from all MNOs combined (i.e. you can get a signal from all of EE, O2, Vodafone / Three UK in these areas). This might not seem all that good, but true universal coverage would cost billions more and mostly end up reaching empty space (doesn’t pass the value for money test).

On top of that there’s the £5bn Project Gigabit scheme, which aims to help extend gigabit-capable fixed broadband (1Gbps+ downloads) coverage “nationwide” (c.99% of premises) by 2032, although this target was recently put back by two years after originally aiming to deliver it by 2030 (here). Finally, there’s the goal of delivering 5G Standalone (SA) coverage “for all populated areas” by 2030 (here), while VodafoneThree aim to reach 99.95% UK population coverage of their 5G SA network by 2034 (here).

Rachel Hallos, NFU Vice-president, said:

“We have been consistently told by government that food security is national security, but to deliver on that farmers need the right tools.

Right now, poor connectivity is holding back the full potential of British farming. We welcome the government’s investment announced in the Spending Review, but these delays risk leaving rural farms disconnected for longer.

This isn’t about asking for special treatment. It’s about fairness. Rural businesses, families and communities deserve the same opportunities as everyone else – and that starts with being properly connected.”

The NFU is now calling on the government to “deliver mobile and broadband connectivity to rural areas“, not least by asking for Shared Rural Network (SRN) to remain a priority. Farmers also want all broadband delivery support schemes to be applicable to all types of broadband – “not just fibre” (alternatives like fixed wireless or mobile broadband are specifically mentioned), as well as better and more widely available rural and agricultural specific digital skills training, and for “clear times to be laid out” to ensure that delivery targets are being met.

The previous government was in the process of examining support options for very remote premises and had also been preparing to review the 10Mbps broadband Universal Service Obligation (here), which may bring some changes in the future (the Labour Party previously called for a 30Mbps USO). But the change of government may have delayed that effort and the recent 10-Year Industrial Strategy didn’t provide much in the way of new information.

Failing that, farmers can today also consider exploring the option of a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) based satellite broadband service – Starlink from SpaceX is pretty good, if you can afford it and look past the ‘Musk’ factor. But improving connectivity in rural areas isn’t merely the responsibility of governments and network operators to resolve.

For example, rural landowners sometimes battle and demand higher rents for the installation of new mobile masts – causing delays and higher costs, while local community members frequently object to such deployments due to their visual impact on the nearby landscape.

Suffice to say, it’s easy to demand improvements, but you also have to be open to the fact that a lot of the needed infrastructure is not going to be invisible. Sometimes it’s possible to hide and conceal such things, but sometimes it’s not, and trying to do so might make the whole deployment economically unviable. The NFU doesn’t touch on this though.

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The TalkTalk Group has confirmed to ISPreview that a further batch of their UK customers are being migrated to Utility Warehouse (Telecom Plus) as part of a recently agreed partnership, which follows a similar move by the provider’s Origin Broadband base a couple of months ago (here).

Customers of TalkTalk, which seemingly includes quite a few that were acquired as part of last year’s deal to gobble Shell Energy’s broadband base from Octopus Energy (here), this week suddenly began posting that the provider had notified them of being migrated to UW.

The message informs customer that, as part of TalkTalk and UW’s partnership, they’ve agreed that “selected TalkTalk customers will be transferred to Utility Warehouse, where they can continue receiving uninterrupted broadband, award winning support and benefit from Utility Warehouse’s extended services“.

The message continues to say that related broadband and home phone contracts were “transferred” to UW on 30th June 2025 (i.e. customers were only notified of this afterwards, instead of before). “However, TalkTalk will continue to support you and handle any queries you have regarding your service,” on UW’s behalf, at least “until your account has been fully moved across to them later this year“.

TalkTalk added that there would be “no immediate changes” to the package price and service.

A TalkTalk spokesperson told ISPreview:

“We have agreed to transfer a small number of customers on standalone and legacy products to Utility Warehouse. We are contacting those customers now to advise them but they don’t need to do anything and won’t see any changes for the time being. We will contact them again later in the year, before the migration, but there will be no interruption to services.”

The provider didn’t define exactly what they meant by “small number of customers“, which is relevant for an ISP that is home to over 3 million users. But the move appears to have been a strategic activity focused on non-core and legacy customer bases, which may enable them to migrate more seamlessly to the newer Kraken platform (here).

The TalkTalk Group has of course also been dealing with various wider challenges, which last year saw them accept a refinancing package worth roughly £400m (here and here). This saved the group from the immediate risk of a default on its debts (i.e. extended debt maturities to September 2027), but still left them with the challenge of needing to fix their foundations. Since then they’ve also had to contend with payment disputes and reports of a possible sale (here, here and here). Never a dull day.

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The UK communications regulator has today launched a couple of new consultations to set future regulation for the wholesale markets that enable landline and mobile phone calls. A number of changes have been proposed as part of this, although most of them are fairly minor or merely confirm a continuation of the existing approach.

The first consultation – open for feedback until 10th October 2025 (final decision due Q1 2026) – focuses upon call termination rates and will cover the period from April 2026 to March 2031. When someone calls a UK phone number, the caller’s network provider pays a wholesale charge to the recipient’s phone company for connecting the call. This is known as a ‘termination rate’.

Ofcom are proposing several measures to “promote competition between call providers and ensure customers can make and receive calls across mobile and landline networks“. Most notably they are proposing to maintain the current price caps for termination rates (0.0365 pence per minute for landlines and 0.487 pence per minute for mobile), instead of indexing them to inflation.

In addition, the regulator wants to “simplify some of our rules” and to remove a specific obligation (the End-to-End Connectivity Condition) that applies only to BT, which was initially intended to enable new entrants to secure quick market entry through BT’s established connectivity arrangements with the rest of the market. “This is because the market has evolved and there are alternative options available,” said Ofcom.

Ofcom’s Proposals for Call Terminations

To continue to set caps on the charges for terminating calls to landlines and mobile phones in the UK. Without these proposed caps, providers would have the ability and incentive to charge excessively high rates for termination. This is because an originating provider has no other choice than to buy the termination service from the terminating provider.

To keep the proposed caps for mobile and fixed call termination at their current nominal levels throughout the review period, until March 2031. We propose to maintain the current caps (0.0365 pence per minute for fixed and 0.487 pence per minute for mobile), instead of indexing them to a measure of inflation, as this is more likely to reflect the costs borne by industry in offering these services going forwards. This would also avoid the need for operators to conduct an annual revision of domestic charges in their billing systems and incur consequential costs.

To continue to impose network access conditions for all providers offering fixed call termination and mobile call termination.

To continue to impose additional remedies on BT relating to its provision of fixed call termination and associated facilities but remove conditions relating to legacy technology. These remedies include a requirement not to unduly discriminate, various transparency requirements and financial reporting requirements. These remedies are justified in light of BT’s position in the market as the largest provider of fixed call termination and an important interconnection partner for other fixed providers. The conditions we propose to remove have become redundant because BT no longer provides call termination services on its legacy network.

To continue to set a cap on termination rates for calls to 070 numbers (also known as personal numbers) equivalent to the proposed cap for mobile termination rates. Without the proposed cap, providers would have the ability and incentive to charge excessively high rates for termination of calls to 070 numbers, with potential adverse consequences on end-users (for example, artificial inflation of traffic through fraud and bill shock).

To revoke the End-to-End (E2E) Connectivity Condition with effect from 1 April 2026. We propose to revoke the access-related condition requiring BT to purchase termination from other providers on reasonable request and on reasonable terms and conditions, including charges.

In addition, Ofcom are also consulting on free-to-caller numbers (those beginning 080 and 116) until 26th September 2025. Such numbers are typically used by businesses, charities and public sector organisations and can have important social uses, such as for helplines. They remain very common. Ofcom are required by law to review these and are merely proposing to maintain them.