Telecoms | UK Regulatory Outlook February 2025

PRS issues general demand for information 

The new premium-rate services (PRS) order came into force on 1 February, with Ofcom taking over responsibility for its day-to-day regulation from the Phone-Paid Services Authority (PSA).  

Ofcom published a general demand for information under the PRS order on 3 February, which required network operators to submit information, on an annual basis, regarding their outpayments to PRS intermediaries and merchants.  

The obligation applies to network operators whose total outpayments in a relevant calendar year (the calendar year two years prior to the current year) are equal to more than £10,000 exclusive of value-added tax. 

If communications providers satisfy this criteria, they will be liable to pay administrative charges calculated using the outpayment figures. Once providers have submitted their responses, Ofcom will issue invoices confirming the amount outstanding.  

For the current charging year, the relevant information must be submitted no later than 5pm on 17 March 2025. For the charging year beginning 1 April 2026, the information must be submitted by no later than 5pm on 28 November 2025.  

Ofcom launches review of alternative dispute resolution in the telecoms sector 

Ofcom has published its consultation on the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme for telecoms customers.  

In the consultation published on 15 January, Ofcom set out its proposals to reapprove both the Communications Ombudsman and the Communication and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme.  

The regulator will look to strengthen the key performance indicators that it sets for the ADR schemes to meet, as well as to reduce the timeframe before consumers can access ADR from eight weeks to six weeks after their initial complaint is raised. It will also look to implement any changes within six months of the publication of its final decision. 

The consultation will remain open until 12 March 2025.  

Consultation launched on business-messaging cap 

Ofcom has launched a proposal to cap the wholesale prices charges by mobile operators for the delivery of text messages (application-to-person (A2P) SMS). These services are used by many organisations to communicate information such as appointment reminders, parcel delivery details and one-time passcodes. This has created a market worth about £400million a year with more than 20 billion A2P SMS sent in 2023-2024. 

The wholesale price of A2P SMS has increased dramatically over the last few years with rises ranging 15% to 75%. Ofcom believes that this is due in part to mobile operators holding significant market powers that, without intervention, will see prices continue to rise significantly.  

In order to remedy this, Ofcom is proposing to cap the A2P SMS termination prices charges by mobile operators to Aggregators and to other interconnecting mobile operators. The cap would be set at approximately 1.96 pence per message, increasing in line with inflation.  

Consultation on this proposal was launched on 28 January is open for feedback until 8 April 2025.