Royal Mail avoids new pricing rules as Ofcom gives universal postal service a clean bill of health May 25, 2016 Royal Mail has avoided having new pricing rules imposed on it, after the communications regulator said the universal postal service had "returned to financial health". In a report released today, Ofcom said after "modernisations", Royal Mail had pushed its return on sales up to the "lower end of the 5-10 per cent range which [we [...]
City Moves for 25 May 2016 | Who’s switching jobs May 25, 2016 Carter Jonas Carter Jonas has recruited Paul Astbury as a partner and new head of compulsory purchase, working within its infrastructure team. Paul, who will be based out of Carter Jonas’ HQ in London, will work closely with the planning and development teams across the country, providing a market-leading compulsory purchase service to local authorities [...]
Reform Openreach’s relationship with BT or public anger at the UK broadband market will only rise May 24, 2016 Anyone who read the papers last week might be forgiven for thinking that Britain’s broadband troubles are over. After years of rising anger about poor reliability, speed and coverage, a new piece of legislation is on the way, aiming to deliver universal coverage. Unfortunately, this is not a panacea and, while the recently announced Digital [...]
Phones 4U founder John Caudwell is backing this mobile startup May 23, 2016 Phones 4U founder John Caudwell has put his weight behind a new mobile startup launching today which aims to simplify buying a new mobile and do away with lengthy contracts. Unshackled.com will sell phones and sims separately and has partnered with peer-to-peer lender Zopa to offer financing for the upfront cost of the device. Founded by the former chief operating officer of Phones 4U [...]
Public consultation launched by Committee of Advertising Practice could introduce sugar advertising crackdown following tax in March Budget May 13, 2016 A public consultation has been launched today on introducing new non-broadcast rules on how food and soft drink products are advertised to children. The body responsible for writing the UK Advertising Code, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), has launched the consultation in response to "wider societal concerns around childhood obesity". Introducing non-broadcast rules would not [...]
BBC white paper: Government stops short of “castrating” corporation – but raises independence concerns and opportunities for commercial rivals May 12, 2016 The government stopped short of “castrating” the BBC today, in the words of one media analyst. But John Whittingdale's white paper setting out the corporation's future has raised concerns over independence. It has also created opportunities for the BBC's commercial rivals. Independence concerns Under the white paper, the BBC Trust is to be abolished and replaced with a unitary [...]
BBC Charter renewal: Culture secretary John Whittingdale reveals shake up of broadcaster in white paper May 12, 2016 A new unitary board which will govern the BBC is to replace the trust overseeing the corporation, while Ofcom will become its regulator, the culture secretary John Whittingdale has announced. Whittingdale – who is speaking to the Commons now – said the Trust was "no longer fit for purpose" and said it was unclear where the [...]
After the EU’s O2-Three merger decision, five questions for the UK mobile market May 11, 2016 Hutchison’s bid for O2 has been turned down in Europe. Here are five questions the UK mobile market is asking today Continued competition… Ofcom initially rejected the merger based on evidence that fewer competitors results in less pressure to keep prices down. It’s that same fear which informed today’s decision, despite assurances from Hutchison of a five year [...]
O2 – Three merger blocked by European Commission May 11, 2016 The European Commission competition regulator has blocked the planned takeover of O2 by Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison. The deal would have seen Telefonica’s O2 merge with Hutchison's UK network Three in a deal valued at £10.25bn. The tie up would have reduced the mobile operators in the UK to three, leaving just Vodafone and BT’s EE to challenge the merged [...]
Why the advertising watchdog is taking issue with broadband providers May 4, 2016 The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced this morning that it would be cracking down on misleading broadband price claims in adverts, but what's all the fuss about? Here are the top three ways that broadband companies have been accused of misleading customers: Too much mental maths involved Let's be honest: nobody enjoyed doing sums sans calculator [...]