Ofcom: Competition

(asked on 7th December 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of Ofcom’s ability to (a) protect and (b) promote competition among fixed telecoms infrastructure providers.


Answered by
Julia Lopez Portrait
Julia Lopez
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 14th December 2022

The Government’s Statement of Strategic Priorities (SSP) for Ofcom (published in 2019) sets out that Ofcom must take account of the Government’s priorities for full-fibre connectivity, including by delivering stable and long-term regulation that incentivises network investment and ensures fair and effective competition between new and existing network operators when taking its regulatory decisions.

Ofcom is required to report on how it has considered the Statement every twelve months. The updates which form part of Ofcom’s Annual Reports can be found here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/annual-reports-and-plans.

Additionally, in 2021 Ofcom published its Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review (WFTMR) which set out Ofcom’s decisions for regulation of the fixed telecoms markets until 2026. The WFTMR makes explicit mention of the government’s desire for regulatory stability and certainty set out in the Statement of Strategic Priorities.

Since the publication of our SSP for Ofcom, there are now over 80 companies investing over £35bn to connect premises all over the UK, and gigabit coverage has increased to over 72%, rising from just 6%.

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