It is vital for consumers to be able to exercise their choice and switch providers easily in order to take advantage of competition in the communications sector.
In 2013 we decided to harmonise the processes used to switch fixed voice and broadband services over the Openreach copper network to a single process led by the Gaining Provider. We also decided to mandate additional consumer protection enhancements to this process. These reforms will be implemented by 20th June 2015.
In March 2015 we published a statement setting out our decision on changes to the processes currently used to switch voice and broadband provider on the KCOM copper network and consulted on the proposed wording of the modified General Conditions (GCs) to give effect to our decision. The reforms we have decided to make are required to be implemented by 20th June 2015.
This document:
- summarises the proposals we made in our March consultation for modifying the GCs;
- summarises the one response we received to our consultation; and
- sets out the changes we have made to the GCs to give effect to our decision, having taken into account the stakeholder consultation response we received.
This document forms part of Ofcom’s overall programme of work to improve the consumer experience of switching communications service providers. We plan to publish an update on our next steps later this spring.