Ofcom look to broadband future

The chief executive of Ofcom is to write to the major telecommunications companies in a bid to start a dialogue on the building of optical fibre networks.

Ed Richards said that the building of the networks, which allow speeds of up to 100Mbps compared with current levels of 20, was vital if the UK's economy was to be competitive in the future.

For this reason, he felt it was important that companies who build the technology gained enough money from it to justify their investment.

He said: "Ofcom favours a regulatory environment for the next generation of networks and access that both allows and encourages operators to make risky investments, to innovate for the benefit of consumers and, if the risks pay off, for the benefit of their shareholders too."

Ofcom have also announced the awarding of the Ofcom Price Accreditation Scheme kitemark to two price comparison calculators.

The calculators are used by Broadband Choices and Simplifydigital and the awards are due to the calculators meeting the terms of an independent audit, which assess the quality of information that the calculators provide for consumers.