The Office of Communications (Welsh: Y Swyddfa Gyfathrebiadau), commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002 and received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003.^[1]

Ofcom has wide-ranging powers across the television, radio, internet, telecoms and postal sectors. It has a statutory duty to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from what might be considered harmful or offensive material. Some of the main areas Ofcom presides over are licensing, research, codes and policies, complaints, competition and protecting the radio spectrum from abuse.

History[link]

The creation of Ofcom was announced in the Queen's Speech to the UK parliament in June 2001. The new body, which would replace several existing authorities, was conceived as a "super-regulator" to oversee media channels that were rapidly converging through digital transmission.^[3]

Ofcom launched on 29 December 2003, formally inheriting the duties that had previously been the responsibility of five different regulators:^[4]

• the Broadcasting Standards Commission,
• the Independent Television Commission,
• the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel),
• the Radio Authority, and
• the Radiocommunications Agency.

In July 2009, Conservative party leader, David Cameron warned in a speech attacking the proliferation of quangos that "Ofcom, as we know it, will cease to exist" if his party came to power.^[5] Under Cameron's leadership, the current UK coalition government has pulled back from substantially reducing Ofcom's remit, although the current Public Bodies Bill does propose some changes to it.^[6]

On 1 October 2011, Ofcom took over responsibility for regulating the postal services industry from the Postal Services Commission (Postcomm).

News International phone hacking scandal[link]

In July 2011, in the wake of the News International phone hacking scandal, Ofcom came under pressure to launch an inquiry into whether the parent company of News International, News Corporation, was still the "fit and proper" owner of a controlling stake in the satellite broadcasting company British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). On 13 July former Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Ofcom to launch an investigation.^[7][8] On 15 July the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg stated that the Government would launch a review of laws on what constituted a "fit and proper" owner for broadcasting companies in the United Kingdom, and that anyone found not to meet that standard can be forced to give up their current holdings in a company.^[9] On 22 July it was reported that Ofcom had begun an investigation into whether the phone-hacking scandal may have changed BSkyB's status as the "fit and proper" holder of a UK broadcasting licence.^[10] On the same day Ed Richards, the Chief Executive of Ofcom, replied to Simon Hughes MP, Don Foster MP and Tim Farron MP following a letter which they had written to him on 8 July concerning News Corporation's shareholding in BSkyB.^[11] In the letter Richards confirmed that Ofcom considers that News Corporation’s current shareholding of 39.14% in BSkyB does give it a material influence over the company; that Ofcom is not precluded from acting by ongoing police investigations; and that Ofcom’s process is not dependent upon a criminal conviction being secured.^[11]

Activities[link]

Consultations[link]

Ofcom makes extensive use of consultations with industry and the public to help it make decisions based upon the evidence presented. Consultation processes begin with publishing documents on its website,^[12] asking for views and responses. If the document is perceived to be long and complicated, a plain English summary is usually published as well. A period of ten weeks is allowed for interested persons, companies or organisations to send in their responses to documents.

After this consultation period, Ofcom publishes the responses on their website (excluding any personal or confidential information). When the consultation period has elapsed, Ofcom will prepare a summary of the responses received, and will use this information as a basis for their decisions.^[13]

Programme complaints[link]

As the regulatory body for media broadcasts, part of Ofcom's duties are to examine specific complaints by viewers or listeners about programmes broadcast on channels that it has licensed. It does not oversee unlicensed channels broadcast to UK viewers. When Ofcom receives a complaint, it asks the broadcaster for a copy of the programme, it then examines the programme content to see if it is in breach of the broadcasting code. Ofcom requests response from the broadcaster to the complaint. On the basis of this response, Ofcom will mark the complaint as either "upheld" or "not upheld", or alternatively simply "resolved".

Licensing[link]

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 licences simply have to be applied and paid for, other commercial licences 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.

Protection[link]

Ofcom protects the radio spectrum in a number of ways:

Working within International organisations (ITU, CEPT and BEREC).

Licencing UK controlled commercial radio spectrum; The Ministry of Defence controls its own spectrum. Within the international frame work for frequency use; Ofcom liaises through the UK Government to produce the UKFAT (UK Frequency Allocation Table). The current table was produced in 2010.

Investigate and, when necessary, carry out enforcement activities to clear interference or illegal use from the spectrum. Until June 2010 Ofcom investigated all interference cases within the UK. However Radio and Television Broadcast interference reporting has reverted to the BBC. However commercial and spectrum licence holders report to Ofcom and in all cases Illegal/Pirate Radio operations are also reported to Ofcom.

Postal services[link]

In October 2010 the UK Government announced plans for Ofcom to inherit the functions of Postcomm as part of a wider set of public service austerity measures.^[14] Following the Postal Services Act 2011 regulatory responsibility for postal services transferred to Ofcom on 1 October 2011, with its primary duty to maintain the UK 6-day a week universal postal service.

Mobile phone database[link]

Ofcom maintains an online database, called "Sitefinder", to which national mobile network operators provide information about the location and operating characteristics of individual mobile phone base stations (or masts). This voluntary scheme was recommended in the "Stewart Report" to the Government in 2000.^[15]

Leadership[link]

Colette Bowe was appointed Ofcom Chairman with effect from 11 March 2009.^[16][17][18] She is the founding chairman of the Telecoms Ombudsman Council, and chaired Ofcom’s Consumer Panel from its inception in 2003 to December 2007. The current Chief Executive is Ed Richards, who previously was Chief Operating Officer, and is responsible for Strategy, Market Research, Finance, Human Resources and other functions. Richards was Senior Policy Advisor to the Labour party Prime Minister Tony Blair for Media, telecoms, the internet and e-govt and Controller of Corporate Strategy at the BBC.^[19]

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 subsequently a Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting.^[20]

Key personnel[link]

Ofcom's key personnel at September 2010 were:^[21]

• Chief Executive, Ed Richards
• Content, International and Regulatory Development, Christopher Woolard
• Legal Group, Polly Weitzman (General Counsel)
• Consumer Group, Claudio Pollack
• Strategy, Chief Economist and Technology Group, Steve Unger
• Competition Policy Group, Stuart McIntosh
• Spectrum Policy Group, ‘H’ Nwana
• Operational Group, Jill Ainscough (Chief Operating Officer)

Controversies[link]

Expenditure[link]

Ofcom has received criticism for incurring unnecessary costs as a result of "extravagant Thames-side offices" and a "top-heavy salary bill",^[22] for a "Nero approach",^[23] and for "poor service".^[24]

Press TV[link]

In May 2011, Ofcom ruled that Press TV, an Iranian English-language satellite channel, was responsible for a serious breach of UK broadcasting rules and could face a fine for airing an interview with Maziar Bahari, the Newsweek journalist arrested covering the Iranian presidential election in 2009, that was obtained by force while he was held in a Tehran jail.^[25]

Upon the release of Ofcom's findings, Press TV launched a campaign against Maziar Bahari and Ofcom. Maziar Bahari was accused of being a "an MI6 contact person"^[26] taking guidance from "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, protocol #7".^[27] Press TV called Ofcom's ruling "part of an anti-Iranian campaign," and that "A quick look at senior decision makers at OFCOM demonstrates that the regulator is mostly made up of former Channel4 and BBC executives, some of whom are well-linked to and influenced by powerful pro-Israeli politicians."^[28][29]