Telecommunications

The UK telecoms market is characterised by a number of large, often overlapping, private service providers as well as smaller operators offering services to specific customer segments or in specific geographic areas.

• BT owns a nationwide fibre core network and last-mile network, allowing it to offer a range of fixed line voice, broadband and TV services to businesses and consumers, as well as a range of wholesale services to other telecoms providers. BT is deploying a new full fibre network across much of the UK. BT provides services across the UK except in Hull, where KCOM is the incumbent provider of telecoms services.
• Virgin Media O2 owns cable and fibre networks that cover approximately 60 percent of UK households, offering fixed line voice, broadband and TV services.
• In recent years, in part facilitated by a regulatory strategy to promote investment and competition in full fibre, many new network operators, collectively known as altnets, have entered the market in direct competition to both BT and Virgin Media O2. They have deployed new alternative network infrastructure for the wholesale and/or retail provision of broadband services.
• Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and a number of other ISPs (Internet Service Providers) offer retail fixed line, broadband or TV services, provided over BT’s network (where wholesale access is regulated) and alternative networks.
• There are also a number of operators that provide services targeted at larger businesses including, voice and data, connectivity, mobility, data hosting and warehousing, network security, cloud computing and others.
• In mobile telecommunications, following the merger of Vodafone and 3UK in 2025, there are now three large mobile network operators (“MNOs”), which own network infrastructure and provide retail services to consumers and businesses. Each of the three main network operators now offers a 5G mobile service. There is also a range of mobile virtual network operators (“MVNO”s), which purchase network access on a wholesale basis from MNOs.
• At the retail level there is considerable convergence of services being offered, with numerous companies providing a package of fixed and mobile voice, broadband, TV and data services to households and businesses.

The telecoms regulatory model is different from that of other infrastructure regulators, which stems primarily from the different duties that govern Ofcom’s approach to regulation of telecoms networks. Ofcom’s main duties are set out in the Communications Act 2003.

Ofcom’s primary duty is to further the interests of citizens in relation to communication matters, and to further the interests of consumers in relevant markets, where appropriate by promoting competition. Ofcom’s regulatory approach for fixed telecoms is to promote network competition where viable, and elsewhere promote competition based on access to BT’s network. Ofcom does not regulate retail prices in telecoms markets.

The telecommunications sector also differs from other sectors in that the requirement to apply for a licence was replaced by the general authorisations regime in 2003. This applies general conditions to all operators and specific conditions that apply based on the types of services offered or customers served.