The regulator opened a consultation on several measures designed to facilitate switching, not only in mobile but also in broadband and pay TV.
Background: The “Fairness for Customers” initiative has been at the centre of Ofcom’s work during 2019. June 2019 saw the leading operators in the sector to sign up to six ‘Fairness Commitments’, to promote fairness across the industry and to address issues in poor customer service. This year, the regulator also passed measures to enhance tariff transparency, introduced switching provider with a simple text message, and took steps to ensure operators inform their customers ahead of contract expiry so that they can take advantage of any better offers.
SIM-locking next in line to go: Ofcom has non unveiled further proposals to enhance fairness for customers. The regulator now aims to put an end to the practice of SIM-locking, whereby operators sell customers handsets that cannot be used with other networks unless they are unlocked. Sometimes unlocking involves a cost, and Ofcom has put forward evidence that it puts consumers off switching in a significant number of cases. There are two options Ofcom is considering. One is forbidding locking entirely, thereby ensuring providers can only sell unlocked devices to customers; the second option is to mandate that providers must either unlock automatically, or send customers a code to unlock the device at specific points in time (e.g. at the end of the minimum contract length). Provisionally, Ofcom sees Option 1 as the most beneficial and easiest to implement. The consultation is open until 3 March 2020.
Switching between different broadband networks to become simpler: Ofcom is also consulting on further measures to facilitate switching between broadband networks. The concern to address here is the difficulty in switching between two different infrastructures – for example, from Openreach to CityFibre or Virgin Media. While switching between providers on the same copper network can already follow a simple process led by the new provider, things have been harder in cases where the switch involves changing network entirely. The new proposals, which implement provisions in the new European Electronic Communications Code, require providers to cooperate more closely and ensure the switch is completed on a specific date. Any service interruption should not last longer than one working day.
