The
Office of Communications () or, as it is more often known,
Ofcom, is the independent telecommunications regulator and competition authority for the
communication industries in the
United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established in the enabling device, the Office of Communications Act 2002.
The first chairman of Ofcom was David Currie, Dean of Cass Business School at City University and a life peer under the title Lord Currie of Marylebone. The first chief executive was Stephen Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes, formerly a senior executive of JWT UK and NTL and now Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting.
The future of Ofcom is in doubt, as the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron has said that if his party were elected, they would restructure it.
Responsibilities
Ofcom's responsibilities are wide-ranging, covering all manner of industries and processes. It has a statutory duty to further what it considers the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting consumers from what it considers harmful or offensive material. Some of the main areas over which Ofcom presides are licensing, undertaking
research, creating codes and policies, addressing complaints and looking into competition. Ofcom has developed a reputation for its tendency to issue a large number of consultations.
Consultations
Ofcom considers consultations to be a vital way of helping it to make the right decisions based upon the right evidence. Consultation starts with publishing a document (all of which are published on its website), asking for views and responses. If the document is perceived to be long and complicated, a
plain English is usually published. They then allow a period of around ten weeks for interested persons, companies or organisations to read the document and send in their responses. In recent times the consultation period has often been little over one month.
After this period, Ofcom will normally publish all of the responses on their website (excluding any which are marked by the respondent as confidential). After the consultation has closed, Ofcom will prepare a summary of the responses, and may use this as a basis for some of their decisions.
Programme complaints
As the regulatory body for media broadcasts, part of Ofcom's duties are to examine specific complaints by viewers/listeners about programmes shown on those channels that it has licensed. (It does not cover channels it has not licensed, even where they are broadcast to UK viewers.) When Ofcom receives a complaint it firstly asks the broadcaster for a copy of the programme, and it then examines the programme to see whether it is in breach of the broadcasting code. Ofcom also asks for a response from the broadcaster to the complaint. Considering these, Ofcom will mark the complaint as either upheld or not upheld, or alternatively 'resolved'.
Licensing
Ofcom is responsible for the management, regulation, assignment and licensing of the
electromagnetic spectrum in the UK, and licenses portions of it for use in
TV and
radio broadcasts,
mobile phone transmissions, private communications networks, and so on. The process of licensing varies depending on the type of usage required. Some licenses simply have to be applied for and paid for, others are subject to a bidding process. Most of the procedures in place have been inherited from the systems used by the previous regulators. However, Ofcom may change some of these processes in future.
Sitefinder database and freedom of information
Sitefinder is a database and web front-end set up and maintained by Ofcom as a result of the recommendations of the Stewart Report to the Government in 2000.It is a voluntary scheme under which mobile network operators send information on the location and operating characteristics of individual mobile phone base stations (or masts) nationally.
In September 2007 an Information Tribunal ruled that the public should have access to the information contained within the database through Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests. However, as Ofcom has no power to compel mobile phone operators to populate the database, UK mobile phone operators consequently ceased sending updates to it. which has led to accusations of the organisation's complicity with the mobile telecommunications industry in keeping information about mast locations secret . Ofcom's reasons for the appeal have ranged from preventing terrorist attacks on the sites of phone masts to protecting the intellectual property of the mobile telecommunications industry.
Postal services
As of 2009, a government-sponsored bill to transfer the operation of the
Royal Mail to Ofcom had been passed by the
House of Lords and was before the
House of Commons for further consideration. The bill would establish a new regulatory regime for the postal services sector, including transferring regulatory responsibility from
Postcomm to Ofcom, with the primary duty of Ofcom in relation to postal services being to maintain the universal 6-day a week service.
The UK Government confirmed in October 2010 that Ofcom would inherit the functions of Postcomm as part of a wider set of public service austerity measures.
Criticism of Ofcom
Ofcom has been criticised for having "extravagant Thames-side offices" and a "top-heavy salary bill" . Also for a "Nero approach" and for "poor service" .
See also
Advertising Standards Authority
Broadband stakeholder group
Office of Fair Trading
Press Complaints Commission
ISPA
International Telecommunications Union
List of telecommunications regulatory bodies
References
External links
Ofcom website
Ofcom Broadcast Codes
OfcomWatch - Ofcom-related blog
Quick video guide to Ofcom for broadcast journalists
The UK’s only impartial comparison service for digital TV, broadband & home phone, accredited by Ofcom
Category:British radio
Category:Television in the United Kingdom
Category:Communications authorities
Category:Communications in the United Kingdom
Category:Media complaints authorities
Category:Statutory corporations of the United Kingdom government
Category:Government agencies established in 2003
