Revised statement of policy on the persistent misuse of an electronic communications network or service | Ofcom

Revised statement of policy on the persistent misuse of an electronic communications network or service | Ofcom

Ofcom is required under section 131 of the Communications Act to prepare a statement on the of its general policy with respect to its legal powers to deal with persistent misuse of an electronic communications network or electronic communications services. It last did this in 2006.

Ofcom held a consultation in Dec 2007 and is going to make a new statement later this year.

Since the last statement nuisance calls have dropped significantly, but BT still receives aorund 80,000 complaints a year - which is unacceptable.

Own-initiative enforcement programme into VoIP providers’ compliance with General Condition 4 (Emergency Call Numbers) | Ofcom

Own-initiative enforcement programme into VoIP providers’ compliance with General Condition 4 (Emergency Call Numbers) | Ofcom

The Communications Act has a set of General Conditions that all communications providers must adhere to. On Sept 8th 2008 General Condition 4 amendments mean that all VoIP providers who provide access to the PSTN (i.e. public phone network) MUST provide 999/112 services.

Ofcom today have started an enforcement initiative that will collect information from VoIP providers, network operators and call handling agents (who pass calls to the Emergency Services) so they can monitor and if necessary enforce compliance.

This could be a major headache for smaller VoIP providers who may not be aware of their obligations under the Communications Act and this specifically may incur costs.