Ofcom Annual Report

Established under the Office of Communications Act 2002, Ofcom operates under a number of Acts of Parliament and regulations. These include the Communications Act 2003, the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, the Broadcasting Acts 1990 and 1996, the Digital Economy Act 2010 and the Postal Services Act 2011. The Communications Act 2003 states that Ofcom’s principal duty is to further the interests of citizens in relation to communications matters and to further the interests of consumers in relevant markets, where appropriate by promoting competition. This underpins much of what we do. In relation to postal services our duty is to carry out our functions in a way that we consider will secure the provision of a universal postal service in the UK. We are involved in advising on and setting some of the more technical aspects of regulation, as well as in implementing and enforcing communications law, competition and consumer protection laws. Ofcom is funded by fees from industry for regulating broadcasting, communications networks and postal services, and grant-in-aid from the UK government for undertaking concurrent competition regulation and managing radio spectrum. We work independently, free from political influence. For the first time, in 2015, we published the data from our Annual Report in csv format.