Vodafone gets its wires crossed with customers as it becomes the most complained about March 30, 2016 Vodafone has become the UK's most complained about mobile phone provider following a surge of complaints in the final months of 2015. The UK telecoms watchdog Ofcom has said it recorded 32 complaints for every 100,000 of Vodafone's pay-monthly subscribers in the last quarter of 2015. This was a major surge, more than double the amount of [...]
Why we should worry about the Three O2 merger March 30, 2016 It won’t have escaped your notice that Three and O2 want the path cleared for a £10.5bn merger. Even with the owner of Three – Hutchison – proposing to keep O2 operationally separate, it would still leave Three/O2 with a 40 per cent market share. Ofcom has sounded alarm bells, and been uncharacteristically vociferous in its opposition. While [...]
Switching mobile networks is about to become much easier under new proposals from Ofcom March 23, 2016 Changing your mobile phone provider is about to become much easier. Regulators have put forward new proposals to make switching networks easier for customers. Ofcom has suggested two options, its preferred one being the new provider handling the switch. "It is unacceptable for people to be missing out on better mobile deals because they fear the hassle of [...]
Ofcom puts forward “strict new rules” for BT’s Openreach division, including cutting charges and boosting installation times March 22, 2016 Ofcom has put forward "strict new rules" that BT must adhere to if it wants to avoid having to carve off its Openreach business. The regulator told BT it must improve its high speed business lines performance and "significantly" cut its wholesale charges for these lines, as part of its review of the market, published [...]
A third of business chiefs think they’ll be hacked with telecoms and utility companys most at risk March 15, 2016 More than a third of business chiefs in the UK believe their companies will be hacked at some point in the next 12 months and it's telecoms and utility firms that are most at risk. More than half of top executives working in the two sectors believe they will be targeted – more than those in the banking, [...]
An ex-Ofcom employee stole commercially sensitive data about the UK’s major TV broadcasters – and then offered it to one of them March 10, 2016 Ofcom has admitted that a former employee stole data from the regulator exposing commercially sensitive information about the UK's biggest TV companies. The ex-employee, having left Ofcom, joined one of those TV companies – and offered the information to their new employer, bringing the theft to light, City A.M understands. Ofcom was made aware of the theft two weeks ago [...]
Banking Standards Board (BSB) chairman Dame Colette Bowe says rebuilding the trustworthiness of British banking will be a “long haul” March 8, 2016 Building the trustworthiness of the British banking sector will be a “long haul”, a former regulator has warned, as the Banking Standards Board (BSB) publishes its first annual review. The BSB is an independent body set up last year to improve standards of behaviour in the Square Mile and restore the public’s trust in financial [...]
BBC’s self-regulating trust should be scrapped, independent report by former Bank of England deputy governor finds March 1, 2016 The BBC’s self-regulating body, the BBC Trust, should be scrapped, a new independent report has suggested. Sir David Clementi, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, was tasked with conducting the review into how the BBC is regulated and governed as part of the Government's review of the corporation’s Royal Charter. He has recommended today that the BBC Trust [...]
Banking Standards Board (BSB) names Sir Brendan Barber deputy chairman, replacing former Treasury Select Committee chairman Lord McFall March 1, 2016 A former trade union boss has been named deputy chair of an influential body tasked with improving standards of behaviour in the Square Mile and restoring the public’s trust in financial institutions. The Banking Standards Board (BSB) announced today that Sir Brendan Barber would take the number-two role on the board, replacing former Treasury Select [...]
Britain needs to take a giant leap forward and embrace radical competition to achieve ultrafast broadband February 29, 2016 London is one of the world’s greatest cities, and arguably the pre-eminent global financial centre. The UK has 17 of Europe’s 40 tech unicorns (startups valued at $1bn or more), and all bar three of these are in London. And yet, compared to other European cities, its broadband infrastructure – the vital sensory network of a [...]