Comms Review Series: Telecoms Seek Fair Access to Content & Insist Copyright is for Courts

Regulatory convergence was a key theme in the responses from UK network operators to Jeremy’s Hunt’s open letter that kicked off the Communications Review. The operators that responded believe that the current asymmetric regulatory approach to mobile, cable and pay TV markets has been detrimental to both new entrants and consumers. For instance, mobile operator Three drew attention to the fact that Ofcom regulates mobile VOD content as ‘Premium Rate’ content but the same content over fixed services (such as Virgin Media or BT Vision) is not considered ‘Premium Rate’. They call for a new regulatory framework that ensures that identical content is treated the same manner regardless of whether is it distributed through a fixed or mobile network.