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81-452: There are 2 types of VRAD systems currently used by AT&T: FTTN (fiber to the node), and FTTP (fiber to the premises). FTTN, widely used where copper facilities exist in established neighborhoods, uses an Alcatel-Lucent 7330 Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) shelf, which uses the existing copper wiring to customers' homes, leading to distance limitations from the VRAD cabinet to

162-467: A 12 VDC power supply fed over several tens of meters of cable. Power line networking deployments also rely on FTTC. Using the IEEE P1901 protocol (or its predecessor HomePlug AV ) existing electric service cables move up to 1 Gbit/s from the curb/pole/cabinet into every AC electrical outlet in the home—coverage equivalent to a robust Wi-Fi implementation, with the added advantage of

243-544: A BBFC 15 certificate at any time of day provided a PIN -protected system is in place to restrict access to those authorised to view it. The broadcasting of pornography with a BBFC R18 certificate is not permitted. In 2010 Ofcom revoked the licences of four free-to-air television channels for promoting adult chat services during daytime hours and transmitting content that was too sexually explicit. The companies involved were fined £157,250. Ofcom's jurisdiction does not cover television and radio channels which are broadcast in

324-408: A bidding process. Most of the procedures in place have been inherited from the systems used by the previous regulators. However, Ofcom may change some of these processes in future. Ofcom protects the radio spectrum in a number of ways: In October 2010 the government announced plans for Ofcom to inherit the functions of Postcomm as part of a wider set of public service sell-off measures. Following

405-517: A company. On 22 July 2011, it was reported that Ofcom had begun an investigation into whether the phone-hacking scandal may have changed BSkyB's status as the "fit and proper" holder of a UK broadcasting licence. On the same day Ed Richards , the then chief executive of Ofcom, replied to Simon Hughes MP, Don Foster MP and Tim Farron MP following a letter which they had written to him on 8 July concerning News Corporation's shareholding in BSkyB. In

486-747: A consultation over the Online Harms White Paper published by the UK government in April 2019, the government announced in February 2020 that it intended Ofcom to have a greater role in Internet regulation to protect users from "harmful and illegal content". In July 2022, Ofcom received additional tools to prevent, identify and remove any content that depicts child sexual abuse and exploitation. These tools will be introduced through an amendment to

567-533: A contract to monitor the National Assembly for Wales and Welsh Government . It was subsequently reported that the contract had not been put out to tender and that Huw Roberts and Nerys Evans held positions for both Deryn and Ofcom. The contract was terminated and Ofcom concluded that it had broken its own procurement rules. Abu Dhabi TV , owned by the Abu Dhabi Media state enterprise,

648-432: A halfway measure between fixed wireless and FTTH, with special advantages for smart appliances and electric vehicles that rely on PLC use already. Operators around the world have been rolling out high-speed Internet access networks since the mid-2000s. Some used a network topology known as Active Ethernet Point-to-Point to deliver services from its central office directly into subscribers' homes. Fiber termination

729-457: A list of measures to promote the deployment of fast broadband and next-generation access networks. Portugal Telecom plans to complete its fiber-to-the-home nationwide roll out by 2020. Currently 200 Mbit/s down, 100 Mbit/s up costs €22 per month. Between September 2017 and March 2019, the number of European FTTH and FTTB subscribers increased by nearly 16%. By 2025, the total number of premises passed by FTTH and FTTB infrastructure

810-426: A location. Each switching cabinet can handle up to 1,000 customers, although 400–500 is more typical. This neighborhood equipment performs layer 2 switching or layer 3 switching and routing, offloading full layer 3 routing to the carrier's central office. The IEEE 802.3ah standard enables service providers to deliver up to 1000 Mbit/s , full-duplex , over one single-mode optical fiber FTTP, depending on

891-428: A lot of bandwidth, but they cost more because of the fiber and the equipment in the central office. Direct fiber is generally favored by new entrants and competitive operators. A benefit is that no layer 2 networking technologies are excluded, whether passive optical network (PON), active optical network (AON), or other. Any form of regulatory remedy is possible using this topology. More commonly, each fiber leaving

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972-425: A maximum download speed that is greater than 24 Mbit/s  – this threshold is commonly considered to be the maximum speed that can be supported on current generation (copper-based) networks." A similar network called a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network is used by cable television operators but is usually not synonymous with "fiber In the loop", although similar advanced services are provided by

1053-512: A national minority, property, birth or age." However, there is concern that Ofcom's broad definition of hate speech can easily result in the unjustified censorship of controversial opinions, however legitimate they might be. Ofcom has received criticism for incurring unnecessary costs as a result of "extravagant Thames-side offices" and a "top-heavy salary bill", for inflexibility in its regulation of commercial radio, and for "poor service". In response to ongoing expenditure concerns, Ofcom made

1134-710: A number of changes to the way phone calls to UK service numbers would be charged. Under the new legislation, which was promoted by an information campaign entitled UK Calling , call charges must be clearly stated on all materials that advertise a service number. The changes came after research found that callers are often confused about service call charges, and thus can avoid calling these numbers. The July 2015 changes also saw 'freephone numbers' 0800 and 0808 become free to call from both mobiles and landlines. In March 2016, Ofcom launched an interactive "Mobile coverage and fixed broadband checker", allowing people to check mobile coverage and broadband speeds via their post code. Ofcom

1215-640: A number of operators, including AT&T in the United States, Germany's Deutsche Telekom , Greece 's OTE , Swisscom, TIM in Italy, Proximus in Belgium, nbn™ in Australia , and Canadian operators Telus , Cogeco and Bell Canada . The simplest optical distribution network architecture is direct fiber: each fiber leaving the central office goes to exactly one customer. These networks can support

1296-665: A register of disclosable interests of the Ofcom board. Ofcom has a number of committees and advisory bodies which inform the Ofcom Board and Executive. These include: Since 1 January 2021, Ofcom has defined hate speech as "all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based on intolerance on the grounds of disability, ethnicity, social origin, sex, gender, gender reassignment, nationality, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, colour, genetic features, language, political or any other opinion, membership of

1377-556: A role in making policy. And the policy-making functions it has today will be transferred back fully to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Under Cameron's subsequent premiership of the 2010 UK coalition government , the Public Bodies Act 2011 did remove or modify several of Ofcom's duties, although it did not substantially reduce Ofcom's remit. On 1 October 2011, Ofcom took over responsibility for regulating

1458-436: A single cable for power and data. By avoiding new cable and its cost and liabilities, FTTC costs less to deploy. However, it also has historically had lower bandwidth potential than FTTP. In practice, the relative advantage of fiber depends on the bandwidth available for backhaul , usage-based billing restrictions that prevent full use of last-mile capabilities, and customer premises equipment and maintenance restrictions, and

1539-480: A summary of the responses received, and uses this information as a basis for its decisions. Michael Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth was appointed as chairman of Ofcom for a four-year term from 1 May 2022. The current Chief Executive is Melanie Dawes who was appointed on 12 February 2020. The first chairman of Ofcom (2002–2009) was David Currie, Baron Currie of Marylebone , Dean of Cass Business School at City University . The first chief executive (2003–2007)

1620-402: A variety of factors, such as the physical geography of the local environment, number of anticipated subscribers, and labor force skill. FTTN/C is seen as an interim step towards full FTTH and in many cases triple-play services delivered using this approach to provide up to around 100 Mbit/s have been proven to grow subscriber numbers and ARPU considerably FTTN/C is currently used by

1701-508: A way to deliver multiple services over open-access networks in the United States. Once on private property, the signal is typically converted into an electrical format. Ofcom The Office of Communications , commonly known as Ofcom , is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers across

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1782-442: Is FTTB. Fiber to the curb/cabinet (FTTC) is a telecommunications system based on fiber-optic cables run to a platform that serves several customers. Each of these customers has a connection to this platform via coaxial cable or twisted pair . The "curb" is an abstraction and can just as easily mean a pole-mounted device or communications closet or shed. Typically any system terminating fiber within 300 m (1,000 ft) of

1863-759: Is a common way of delivering triple- and quad-play (voice, video, data, and mobile) services over both fiber and hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) networks. Active PPPoE uses dedicated fiber from an operator's central office all the way to the subscribers' homes, while hybrid networks (often FTTN) use it to transport data via fiber to an intermediate point to ensure sufficiently high throughput speeds over last-mile copper connections. This approach has become increasingly popular in recent years with telecoms service providers in both North America ( AT&T , Telus , for example) and Europe's Fastweb , Telecom Italia , Telekom Austria and Deutsche Telekom , for example. Google has also looked into this approach, amongst others, as

1944-457: Is also the competition authority for telecoms, enforcing remedies in markets where it believes dominant operators may have a potentially harmful influence on competition or consumers. One of its most high-profile interventions was to require BT to split its wholesale and retail arms into separate companies, bringing about the creation of Openreach which supplies wholesale services to both BT Retail and competing providers. On 1 July 2015, Ofcom made

2025-712: Is expected to reach 187 million throughout Europe. Google Fiber provides speed of up to 8 Gbit/s . Active Line Access is an evolving standard for the provision of services over FTTP networks in the United Kingdom proposed by the regulator Ofcom and developed by the Network Interoperability Consultative Committee. Most FTTH deployments follow one of four primary architecture types: centralized split, distributed split, star architecture, or daisy-chaining. Fiber network developers choose architectures based on

2106-494: Is responsible for the management, regulation, assignment and licensing of the electromagnetic spectrum in the UK, and licenses portions of it for use in television and radio broadcasts, mobile phone transmissions, private communications networks, wireless devices and so on. The process of licensing varies depending on the type of use required. Some licences simply have to be applied and paid for; other commercial licences are subject to

2187-449: Is saved by not running fiber to the home. Fiber to the x is the key method used to drive next-generation access ( NGA ), which describes a significant upgrade to the broadband available by making a step change in speed and quality of the service. This is typically thought of as asymmetrical with a download speed of 24 Mbit/s plus and a fast upload speed. Ofcom have defined super-fast broadband as "broadband products that provide

2268-417: Is sometimes given the acronym FTTLA (fiber-to-the-last-amplifier) when it replaces analog amplifiers up to the last one before the customer (or neighborhood of customers). FTTC allows delivery of broadband services such as high-speed internet. Usually, existing wire is used with communications protocols such as broadband cable access (typically DOCSIS ) or some form of DSL connecting the curb/cabinet and

2349-463: The Iranian presidential election in 2009 , that was obtained by force while he was held in a Tehran jail. Press TV said that Bahari did not "dispute the truth and accuracy" of the extract of the interview, so it made "no logical sense" to require his consent. The Sitefinder database is a national database of mobile phone base stations in the UK. In September 2007, an Information Tribunal ruled that

2430-512: The Postal Services Act 2011 regulatory responsibility for postal services transferred to Ofcom on 1 October 2011, with its primary duty to maintain the UK's six-day-a-week universal postal service. Ofcom makes extensive use of consultations with industry and the public to help it make decisions based upon the evidence presented. Consultation processes begin with publishing documents on its website, asking for views and responses. If

2511-761: The Supreme Court , who in turn referred a point of law to the European Court of Justice , and then in October 2011 ordered that the matter should be remitted to the Information Rights Tribunal to reconsider the public interest balancing exercise. On 12 December 2012, the Information Rights Tribunal upheld its decision of 4 September 2007. In 2017, Ofcom's advisory committee for Wales awarded Deryn Consulting

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2592-543: The central office hub, then to the headend video hub office . VRADs required for U-verse are around 150 centimetres (59 in) wide, 122 centimetres (48 in) tall, and 66 centimetres (26 in) deep. Size and graffiti risk have drawn complaints from homeowners. AT&T has sued competitor Comcast for Chicago ads against AT&T's "large and unsightly" VRADs. Four VRADs have exploded due to faulty lithium-ion batteries manufactured by Avestor (now bankrupt), at least one explosion sending parts "fifty feet throughout

2673-661: The "fit and proper" owner of a controlling stake in the satellite broadcasting company British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). On 13 July former Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Ofcom to launch an investigation. On 15 July the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg stated that the Government would launch a review of laws on what constituted a "fit and proper" owner for broadcasting companies in the United Kingdom, and that anyone found not to meet that standard can be forced to give up their current holdings in

2754-467: The AON. Each signal leaving the central office is directed only to the customer for whom it is intended. Incoming signals from the customers avoid colliding at the intersection because the powered equipment there provides buffering . Active Ethernet (a type of Ethernet in the first mile ) is a common AON, which uses optical Ethernet switches to distribute the signal, incorporating the customers' premises and

2835-542: The Chief Executive of John Lewis in June 2019, the office of Chief Executive remained open until Jonathan Oxley was appointed as Interim Chief Executive. In February 2020, it was announced that Melanie Dawes would become the new Chief Executive. On 15 March 2016, it was announced that Steve Gettings would become Corporation Secretary in succession to Graham Howell. Ofcom's key personnel are: Ofcom publishes

2916-541: The Fiber for Italy initiative, had an even more ambitious plan to bring fiber-to-the-home and fiber-to-the-business to 138 cities by 2018. By the end of December 2010, the total number of fiber-to-the-home enabled homes had passed 2.5 million, with more than 348,000 subscribers. ) In September 2010, the European Commission published a new "Recommendation for Regulated Access to NGA Networks" along with

2997-463: The HFC networks. Fixed wireless and mobile wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi , WiMAX and 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) are an alternative for providing Internet access . The telecommunications industry differentiates between several distinct FTTX configurations. The terms in most widespread use today are: To promote consistency, especially when comparing FTTH penetration rates between countries,

3078-543: The Online Safety Bill. Ofcom will be allowed to penalise those tech firms that do not comply, either by fines up to £18m or by 10% of the company's annual turnover, whichever amount is higher. In July 2011, in the wake of the News International phone hacking scandal, Ofcom came under pressure to launch an inquiry into whether the parent company of News International , News Corporation , was still

3159-511: The UK but licensed abroad. In 2012 Ofcom lodged a complaint with the Dutch media regulator regarding the content of adult chat television channels which are broadcast in the UK but licensed in the Netherlands. Based on a survey of 200 British respondents, Ofcom published in 2016 a list of about 50 words classified in four grades of offensiveness, from "milder" to "strongest". Ofcom regulates

3240-421: The UK telecoms sector, defining and enforcing the conditions by which all mobile and fixed-line phone and broadband companies must abide. These 'general conditions' are wide-ranging rules relating to matters such as telephone numbering, emergency services, sales, marketing and interconnection standards. Ofcom's investigation unit monitors compliance with the conditions and resolves disputes between providers. Ofcom

3321-492: The UK. After investigations exceeding eight months, Ofcom reported that Al Jazeera was in line with journalism standards and cleared the filmmakers of the allegations. In May 2011, Ofcom ruled that Press TV , an Iranian English-language satellite channel, was responsible for a serious breach of UK broadcasting rules and could face a fine for airing an interview with Maziar Bahari , the Newsweek journalist arrested covering

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3402-503: The UK. Broadcasters must comply by the terms of their licence, or risk having it revoked. Ofcom also publishes the Broadcasting Code, a series of rules which all broadcast content on television and radio must follow. The Broadcasting Code requires that content inappropriate for children should not be broadcast between the hours of 5:30   a.m. and 9:00   p.m. Premium-rate film services may broadcast content equivalent to

3483-1098: The United States, in Chattanooga , Tennessee , despite being conducted by power utility EPB , was FTTH rather than FTTC, reaching every subscriber in a 600-square-mile area. Monthly pricing of US$ 350 reflected this generally high cost of deployment. However, Chattanooga EPB has reduced the monthly pricing to US$ 70/month. Historically, both telephone and cable companies avoided hybrid networks using several different modes of transport from their point of presence into customer premises. The increased competitive cost pressure, availability of three different existing wire solutions, smart grid deployment requirements (as in Chattanooga), and better hybrid networking tools (with major vendors like Alcatel-Lucent and Qualcomm Atheros , and Wi-Fi solutions for edge networks , IEEE 1905 and IEEE 802.21 protocol efforts and SNMP improvements) all make FTTC deployments more likely in areas uneconomic to serve with FTTP/FTTH. In effect FTTC serves as

3564-533: The biggest overhaul of telephoning in over a decade. On 1 January 2016, the regulation of video on demand was transferred to Ofcom from ATVOD , the Authority for Television on Demand. The Digital Economy Act 2017 extended Ofcom's remit and powers. Ofcom were given powers concerning the minimum broadband speed provided by Internet service providers , the ability to financially penalise communications providers for failing to comply with licence commitments and

3645-543: The building can offer the highest speeds since the remaining segments can use standard Ethernet or coaxial cable. Fiber is often said to be "future-proof" because the data rate of the connection is usually limited by the terminal equipment rather than the fiber, permitting substantial speed improvements by equipment upgrades before the fiber itself must be upgraded. Still, the type and length of employed fibers chosen, e.g. multimode vs. single-mode, are critical for applicability for future connections of over 1 Gbit/s . With

3726-434: The cabinet is usually less than one mile in radius and can contain several hundred customers. FTTN allows delivery of broadband services such as high-speed internet. High-speed communications protocols such as broadband cable access (typically DOCSIS ) or some form of digital subscriber line (DSL) are used between the cabinet and the customers. Data rates vary according to the exact protocol used and according to how close

3807-458: The central office into a large switched Ethernet network. Ethernet in the first mile deployments follow a point to point or star network topology and are often based on Fast Ethernet speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s . Such networks are identical to Ethernet computer networks used in businesses and academic institutions, except that their purpose is to connect homes and buildings to a central office rather than to connect computers and printers within

3888-405: The central office is actually shared by many customers. It is not until such a fiber gets relatively close to the customers that it is split into individual customer-specific fibers. AONs and PONs both achieve this split. AONs rely on electrically powered network equipment to distribute the signal, such as a switch or router . Normally, signals need an optical-electrical-optical transformation in

3969-748: The clandestine organization in UAE". According to the decision, the aired interview was recorded against the consent of Dr. Al-Jaidah, who was physically tortured during his time in the Abu Dhabi prison. The activity had constituted a serious breach of the principles of fairness and privacy detailed in the Ofcom Broadcasting Code. In 2019, Ofcom began an investigation into the Chinese international channel CGTN , owned by state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), following allegations that

4050-511: The common form of Gigabit Ethernet ( 1 Gbit/s ) runs over relatively economical category 5e , category 6 or 6A unshielded twisted-pair copper cabling but only to 100 m (300 ft). However, 1 Gbit/s Ethernet over fiber can easily reach tens of kilometers. Therefore, FTTP has been selected by every major communications provider in the world to carry data over long 1 Gbit/s symmetrical connections directly to consumer homes. FTTP configurations that bring fiber directly into

4131-682: The cost of running fiber that can vary widely with geography and building type. In the United States and Canada, the largest deployment of FTTC was carried out by BellSouth Telecommunications . With the acquisition of BellSouth by AT&T , deployment of FTTC will end. Future deployments will be based on either FTTN or FTTP. Existing FTTC plant may be removed and replaced with FTTP. Verizon , meanwhile, announced in March 2010 they were winding down Verizon FiOS expansion, concentrating on completing their network in areas that already had FiOS franchises but were not deploying to new areas, suggesting that FTTH

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4212-435: The customer is to the cabinet. Unlike FTTP, FTTN often uses existing coaxial or twisted-pair infrastructure to provide last mile service and is thus less costly to deploy. In the long term, however, its bandwidth potential is limited relative to implementations that bring the fiber still closer to the subscriber. A variant of this technique for cable television providers is used in a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) system. It

4293-421: The customer premises equipment would be described as FTTC. Fiber to the node or neighborhood (FTTN), sometimes identified with and sometimes distinguished from fiber to the cabinet (FTTC), is a telecommunication architecture based on fiber-optic cables run to a cabinet serving a neighborhood. Customers typically connect to this cabinet using traditional coaxial cable or twisted pair wiring. The area served by

4374-449: The customer's home. The 7330 ISAM is an internet protocol DSL access multiplexer that supports VDSL and ADSL protocols. The FTTP system uses an Alcatel-Lucent 7340 ISAM shelf, which is mostly used in areas such as new neighborhoods or large-scale developments where fiber can be run to the household, removing the distance limitations of copper. The 7340 then connects to a Primary Flexibility Point , which distributes service to homes in

4455-602: The customers. In these protocols, the data rates vary according to the exact protocol used and according to how close the customer is to the cabinet. Where it is feasible to run new cable, both fiber and copper Ethernet are capable of connecting the "curb" with a full 100 Mbit/s or 1 Gbit/s connection. Even using relatively cheap outdoor category 5 copper over hundreds of meters, all Ethernet protocols including power over Ethernet (PoE) are supported . Most fixed wireless technologies rely on PoE, including Motorola Canopy , which has low-power radios capable of running on

4536-407: The distance exceeds 100 m (300 ft). Fiber to the premises (FTTP) is a form of fiber-optic communication delivery in which an optical fiber is run in an optical distribution network from the central office all the way to the premises occupied by the subscriber. The term "FTTP" has become ambiguous and may also refer to FTTC where the fiber terminates at a utility pole without reaching

4617-463: The document is perceived to be long and complicated, a plain English summary is usually published as well. A period, usually of 10 weeks, is allowed for interested persons, companies or organisations to send in their responses to the consultation. After this consultation period, Ofcom publishes all the responses on its website, excluding any personal or confidential information. Ofcom then prepares

4698-401: The duties that had previously been the responsibility of five different regulators: In July 2009, Conservative Party opposition leader David Cameron referenced Ofcom in a speech against the proliferation of quangos : With a Conservative government, Ofcom as we know it will cease to exist… Its remit will be restricted to its narrow technical and enforcement roles. It will no longer play

4779-464: The following statement regarding the 2017/2018 budget: "Ofcom has delivered 12 consecutive years of like-for-like real-terms budget reductions, and we will continue to reduce spending wherever we can." The Qatar-based news media outlet was reported to Ofcom in January 2017, following an exposé about Israeli diplomatic corps irregularities and influence peddling amongst political and student groups in

4860-412: The home) to 1.5 Gbit/s. Claro Puerto Rico is currently deploying VRADs to offer their IPTV and VDSL Internet service up to 50 Mbit/s. There are 2 types of VRAD systems currently used by Claro: FTTN (fiber to the node), and FTTP (fiber to the premises). It is unknown the equipment they are using. Fiber to the x Fiber to the x ( FTTX ; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in

4941-541: The letter Richards confirmed that Ofcom considers that News Corporation's current shareholding of 39.14% in BSkyB does give it a material influence over the company; that Ofcom is not precluded from acting by ongoing police investigations; and that Ofcom's process is not dependent upon a criminal conviction being secured. In April 2012, Ofcom's probe moved from a monitoring phase to an "evidence gathering" phase. * Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Ofcom licenses all UK commercial television and radio services in

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5022-497: The loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications . As fiber optic cables are able to carry much more data than copper cables, especially over long distances, copper telephone networks built in the 20th century are being replaced by fiber. FTTX is a generalization for several configurations of fiber deployment, arranged into two groups: FTTP/FTTH/FTTB (fiber laid all

5103-476: The moment it leaves the ISP's facilities until it reaches the customer, many ISPs prefer this technology. The downstream signal coming from the central office is broadcast to each customer premises sharing a fiber. Encryption is used to prevent eavesdropping. Upstream signals are combined using a multiple-access protocol, usually time-division multiple access (TDMA). Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE)

5184-492: The neighborhood, via a dual strand fiber, which is then split into 32 customer fiber pairs. In FTTP systems, the fiber pairs are typically led into a customer's residence at the network interface device . In FTTD (fiber to the desk) systems, the fiber can continue to an equipment room or garage, then to a decoder box or residential gateway , then to the customer's TV, computer, and phone lines. The VRAD typically connects upstream to an Alcatel-Lucent 7450 Ethernet service switch in

5265-497: The neighborhood." AT&T replaced all 17,000 Avestor batteries used in its VRADs with safer Alcatel-Lucent -designed SAFT NiCad batteries, which have a 10-year life. Bell Canada 's Bell Fibe TV and Telus 's Optik TV also use VRADs in their networks. Bell Canada uses the Alcatel-Lucent 7330 and Ikanos Communications IKNS ISAMs, and provides Internet service via either FTTN to 50 Mbit/s, or FTTH (fibre to

5346-605: The organisation's complicity with the mobile telecommunications industry in keeping information about mast locations secret. Ofcom's stated reasons for the appeal have ranged from "preventing terrorist attacks" on the sites of phone masts to "protecting the intellectual property" of the mobile telecommunications industry. In April 2008, the High Court found in favour of the Information Commissioner's Office and over-ruled Ofcom's objections. Ofcom appealed to

5427-523: The postal services industry from the Postal Services Commission (Postcomm). In April 2015, Ofcom announced that telephone companies would have to provide customers with a set charge for the cost of calling numbers starting with 084, 087 and 09. The streamlining of these charges must be printed in each customer's contract and monthly bills. The change came into force on 1 July 2015 and affected over 175 million phone numbers, making it

5508-598: The power to require public service broadcasters to include a minimum quantity of children's programming made in the United Kingdom. The act also transferred to Ofcom the regulation of the BBC , a duty previously undertaken by the BBC Trust , and updated the Ofcom Electronic Communications Code to make it easier for telecommunications companies to erect and extend mobile masts. Following

5589-421: The premises. Fiber to the premises can be categorized according to where the optical fiber ends: An apartment building may provide an example of the distinction between FTTH and FTTB. If a fiber is run to a panel inside each subscriber's apartment unit, it is FTTH. If instead, the fiber goes only as far as the apartment building's shared electrical room (either only to the ground floor or to each floor), it

5670-403: The provider. A passive optical network (PON) is a point-to-multipoint FTTP network architecture in which unpowered optical splitters are used to enable a single optical fiber to serve up to 128 customers. A PON reduces the fiber and central office equipment required compared with point-to-point architecture. Because of this, and because it needs no powered splitters or other active components from

5751-508: The public should have access to the database under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 . However, as Ofcom has no legal power to force mobile phone operators to add information to the database, UK mobile phone operators consequently ceased updating it. Ofcom appealed against the Freedom of Information Act ruling, together with one UK mobile operator – T-Mobile. This has led to accusations of

5832-576: The rising popularity of high-definition , on-demand video streaming applications and devices such as YouTube , Netflix , Roku , and Facebook LIVE , the demand for reliable bandwidth is crucial as more and more people begin to utilize these services. FTTC (where fiber transitions to copper in a street cabinet) is generally too far from the users for standard Ethernet configurations over existing copper cabling. They generally use very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL) at downstream rates of 80 Mbit/s , but this falls extremely quickly when

5913-399: The television, radio, telecoms and postal sectors. It has a statutory duty to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from harmful or offensive material. Some of the main areas Ofcom regulates are TV and radio standards, broadband and phones, video-sharing platforms online, the wireless spectrum and postal services. The regulator

5994-399: The three FTTH Councils of Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific agreed upon definitions for FTTH and FTTB in 2006, with an update in 2009, 2011 and another in 2015. The FTTH Councils do not have formal definitions for FTTC and FTTN. While fiber optic cables can carry data at high speeds over long distances, copper cables used in traditional telephone lines and ADSL cannot. For example,

6075-404: The way to the premises/home/building) and FTTC/N (fiber laid to the cabinet/node, with copper wires completing the connection). Residential areas already served by balanced pair distribution plant call for a trade-off between cost and capacity. The closer the fiber head, the higher the cost of construction and the higher the channel capacity. In places not served by metallic facilities, little cost

6156-504: Was Stephen Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes , formerly a senior executive of JWT UK and NTL and subsequently a Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting. Colette Bowe was appointed Ofcom chairman with effect from 11 March 2009. She was the founding chairman of the Telecoms Ombudsman Council, and chaired Ofcom's Consumer Panel from its inception in 2003 to December 2007. Dame Patricia Hodgson

6237-407: Was appointed as chairman of Ofcom for a three-year term from April 2014. She was a member of the Ofcom board from July 2011 and became deputy chairman in January 2012. On 18 July 2016, it was announced that her term would be extended for a further year until 2018. Sharon White was Ofcom's chief executive from 2015 to 2019, having replaced Ed Richards in the role. After Sharon White was appointed

6318-633: Was condemned by Ofcom for broadcasting a televised interview of the confessions made by a Qatari citizen, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Jaida, while he was detained arbitrarily in the Abu Dhabi prisons in 2013. The National Human Rights Committee of the State of Qatar welcomed Ofcom's decision. Under the decision, it was stated that on 28 June 2017, the Abu Dhabi TV channel, which is affiliated with Abu Dhabi Media Company P.J.S.C "ADMC", licensed under Ofcom had broadcast an interview recording titled "Mahmoud Al-Jaidah and

6399-578: Was handled by a residential gateway provided by Advanced Digital Broadcast inside a subscriber's home to be shared with other consumer electronics (CE) devices. Since 2007, Italian access providers Fastweb , Vodafone , and Wind participated in an initiative called Fiber for Italy, with the aim of creating a countrywide fiber-to-the-home network in Italy. The pilot taking place in the Italian capital, Rome, has seen symmetrical bandwidth of 100 Mbit/s . Telecom Italia, which refused to take part in

6480-712: Was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002 and received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003 . On 20 June 2001, the Queen's Speech to the UK Parliament announced the creation of Ofcom. The new body, which was to replace several existing authorities, was conceived as a "super-regulator" to oversee media channels that were rapidly converging through digital transmission. On 29 December 2003, Ofcom launched, formally inheriting

6561-427: Was uneconomic beyond these areas. Verizon also announced (at CES 2010) its entry into the smart home and power utility data management arenas, indicating it was considering using P1901-based FTTC or some other existing-wire approach to reach into homes, and access additional revenues from the secure AES-128 bandwidth required for advanced metering infrastructure . However, the largest 1 Gbit/s deployment in

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