[cma-l] Ofcom Report - Ensuring a nation of connected citizens

Fri Oct 31 11:46:40 GMT 2014

My immediate comments on a cursory reading of this report:
CITIZENS AND
COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES REPORT

Ensuring that
communications services work in the interests of UK citizens.

Publication date 31
October 2014

>From the Foreword
from the Chairman, Dame Patricia Hodgson:

Access to good
communications is important for every one of us. Reliable and affordable services
oil the wheels of our daily lives and support the economy and society as a
whole.

And increasingly,
new technology is at the heart of those communications.

Our ability to
access, use and rely on not only our television, phone and postal services, but
also our mobile phones and broadband connections, determine how fully we can
play a part in our economy, society and culture.

No mention
of radio.

In the UK, we have a
strong tradition of securing citizens’ access to communications

services.

Not really
borne out in Ofcom’s treatment of the Community radio sector.

In the postal
sector, for landline phones and in broadcasting this has led to the principle
of ‘universal access’, secured through a combination of competition and
regulatory interventions. Ofcom set a 98% indoor coverage requirement on one of
the 4G mobile licences, while the government has established a Universal
Service Commitment for basic broadband.

2.1  Availability

Broadcasting. The
national digital TV switchover programme significantly increased the availability
of digital terrestrial television (DTT) services. Over 20 TV channels,
including the main Public Service Broadcasting channels and high definition
services, are now available to over 98.5% of the UK population. An even greater
number of purely commercial channels are also available on DTT to around 90% of
the population. Satellite and cable coverage also provide platform choice for
citizens, although neither offer coverage as high as DTT.

Today, DAB coverage
is increasingly widespread, but does not yet match FM coverage, being patchier
in rural areas and in the Nations.

Minimal
mention of radio.

5.6 Broadcasting

Community radio
stations have been licensed on FM and AM around the UK, with stations generally
serving a small area (around a 5km radius). They are not-for-profit stations
and members of the local community typically get involved in producing output
and running the station. These stations are intended to bring ‘social gain’
benefits for their target community, such as opportunities for training.
Community stations must serve a community of interest such as a particular age,
ethnic or language group.

There are over 200
community stations broadcasting across the UK, with another 35 stations preparing
to launch. Ofcom is still licensing new services; for example in October 2014
we announced the licencing of three new community radio services in
Staffordshire.

That would
have been an ideal opportunity to bring out the Ofcom commitment as put to the House
by Ed Vaizey of its intention to make a Community Radio station available to every
community which wants one – unless of course that’s not now the case

TV coverage

Satellite and cable
coverage also provide platform choice for citizens, although neither offer coverage as high as DTT.

I think there
is room to question that statement.

Section 7

Ensuring that
communications services are affordable

Nothing about
Community Radio

Section 8

Future opportunities
and challenges

Nothing about
Community Radio

Section 9

Glossary

An interesting item
from the Glossary:

DAB Digital audio
broadcasting. A set of internationally-accepted standards for the

technology by which
terrestrial digital radio multiplex services are broadcast in the UK.

I think there
is room to question that definition.

From: Updates at maillist.ofcom.org.uk
To: transplanfm at hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 21:04:01 +1100
Subject: Ensuring a nation of connected citizens

Telecoms

					Web Version | Update preferences

	Ofcom has today published a report outlining work to help ensure that everyone in the UK benefits as much as possible from communications services.

	Ofcom’s Citizens and Communications Services report looks at the availability, accessibility and affordability of communications services in the UK.

	The report highlights the progress made over the last 10 years in ensuing communications services have kept pace with the changing needs of UK citizens, as well as developments in technology.

	It also assesses the challenges facing Ofcom, Government and industry in ensuring the benefits of the communications market are shared across society and the growing expectations of UK citizens are met.

	A news release can be found here.

                            Subscribe to lists 

                         Telecoms 
                          Broadcasting
                          Radio Spectrum
                          Competition Bulletin
                          Numbering
                          Consumer Information
                           Media Literacy
                          Postal Services

By joining our email list you agree to the use of open tracking cookies by our third party provider. It stores data, including personal data, outside the EU/UK and uses cookies to monitor when you open emails. Knowing which updates you read and when you read them will help us improve our service. 

No action is necessary unless you choose to unsubscribe from this service. By unsubscribing you may be removed from several Ofcom lists.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20141031/f89da152/attachment.html>