Ofcom

Telecoms providers have a responsibility to help prevent phone numbers from being misused. We’ve fined Tismi £437,500 after our investigation found it failed to have appropriate or proportionate measures in place to prevent the misuse of numbers allocated to it. Around 366,000 sub-allocated numbers were exposed to potential misuse for more than two years. Providers must take appropriate steps to understand who they are providing numbers to, monitor for potential misuse and respond appropriately when incidents are reported. This action sends a clear message: companies that fail to put appropriate protections in place can expect to face enforcement action.

Work in the world of online safety? Stay up to date on what you need to know with our latest Online Safety Industry Bulletin. 🌐 In this issue, you’ll find updates on: 🔹 Recent enforcement action, including fines and new investigations into services’ compliance with the Online Safety Act. 🔹 What online services need to know and do, including new requirements around intimate image abuse and additional risk assessment duties for categorised services. 🔹 What’s coming up from Ofcom, including updates on transparency reporting, age assurance and further measures to protect children online. Head to the comments to read the bulletin in full.

📱 What does good mobile performance look like across the UK? Our latest Mobile Matters analysis shows that UK mobile performance is below our proposed benchmark, with significant differences between local authority areas. Improving mobile performance will take a joined-up effort. Mobile companies, government, local authorities, developers, landlords and Ofcom all have a role to play in driving improvements. But what does mobile performance look like where you are? 📍 Map Your Mobile lets you check predicted coverage and performance from different mobile networks where you live, work and travel.

Tackling telecoms challenges across borders. We're pleased to have reaffirmed our commitment to working with international partners in response to evolving threats and challenges in telecoms. Building on our existing partnership and ongoing co-operation, we have signed a joint statement with regulators and government departments from the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. This includes shared commitments on: 🛡️Promoting secured networks 🌐Promoting supply chain security 🗣️Deepening co-ordination 🌍Strengthening international partnerships ⚠️Protecting critical communications infrastructure ⛔Combatting scams and fraud 🔒AI and communication security The international nature of these challenges means no nation can tackle them alone. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners to strengthen the resilience and security of our communications ecosystems. Read the joint statement in full below: Federal Communications Commission Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Australian Department of Home Affairs National Cyber Security Centre

🎮 📺 This week we had a busy day of broadcast interviews as we shared findings from our Growing Up Gaming research and practical advice to help parents support their children online.   Our spokespeople, Tony Stower and Simon M. from our Online Safety team, appeared across national and regional media, including Good Morning Britain, Sky News, LBC News, BBC Scotland and a range of radio stations.   Good Morning Britain featured a visit to Canonbury Primary School, where Tony Stower spoke with pupils about gaming and online safety, before joining gaming creators Tays and Chazza in the studio to discuss the role gaming plays in children's lives and some of the concerns parents have around online play.   Our message is clear: Gaming can be a positive part of childhood, but one that comes with risks too. That's why we're encouraging parents to Check their child's registered age, Chat regularly about gaming and online experiences, and Change privacy settings to make sure they have the right protections in place.   Find out more about the research 👇

📮 We’re proposing to extend the safeguard cap on Second Class stamp prices for a further year, until March 2028. The current cap is matched to inflation, expiring in March 2027. Our proposal would extend it for another year, meaning Second Class stamp prices would remain flat in real terms. This is an interim measure, while Royal Mail makes further progress implementing reforms to the universal postal service and improving its delivery performance, which has been unacceptable in recent years. We plan to consult on our long-term approach to pricing next year, once Royal Mail has made more progress in these important areas. Find out more about our proposals and have your say 👇

We've received X's first quarterly report on its action to tackle illegal hate and terror content under the Online Safety Act. The data appears to show improvements in how quickly X reviews reported content, with its performance falling within the response times agreed under commitments made by X in May. However, we have ongoing concerns about the effectiveness of X's response to how illegal content is being taken down. We will be cross-checking X's data against our own testing and continuing to scrutinise the platform's performance to drive improvements. We're also progressing our investigation into X following concerns about the GrokAI chatbot being used to create and share sexual deepfakes. During the course of our investigation, we have already secured changes, including: ⚫ Stronger restrictions on access to age-gated pornographic content on X. ⚫ New restrictions so children in the UK are protected from encountering pornographic content on the standalone Grok service. ⚫ Action to restrict UK users from generating, viewing or sharing pornographic content using the image generation technology on the standalone Grok service in app or via links. ⚫ Additional protections to prevent UK users from engaging in sexually explicit conversations on companion chatbots. ⚫Our investigation continues, and will focus on X's compliance with its illegal content, complaints and reporting duties.

Our latest Growing Up Gaming research finds that 'stranger danger' tops parents worries when it comes to their kids online gaming. Gaming is firmly embedded in modern childhood. It is a way for children to play, create and spend time with friends, family and wider online communities. Our research brings together evidence about how children game, who they play with and the experiences they have online. It finds that: 🎮 88% of children aged 3–17 play games on some kind of device 👥 55% of children who game online play with people they have only met online at least sometimes 💬 64% of parents are concerned about their child talking to strangers while gaming 📋 But only 43% set rules about who their child can play with Gaming platforms have a legal responsibility to protect children, and we are working to ensure they meet those responsibilities, already securing measures on ROBLOX, PlayStation and Xbox. Alongside that work, our Parents: Power Up campaign is helping families better understand children’s gaming worlds and take simple steps towards safer gaming. For those that want peace of mind at home, our advice is to take three simple action: Check Chat Change

Working together to bring better connections to people and businesses.🤝 This week we joined Greater Manchester Combined Authority, telecoms industry representatives and other public bodies at an event to discuss how collaboration can help improve mobile connectivity in Greater Manchester and beyond. We have been working in partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority to understand the real-world experience people have when looking to use their telecoms services – and how we can make sure people can get connected whenever and wherever they need to. Following the event, Ofcom and Greater Manchester Combined Authority have issued a joint statement that recognises: 🌐 Digital connectivity is critical infrastructure. 🛜Ambition for better connections requires collective action from all involved. 📈 Improving connectivity can be the foundation for opportunity, prosperity, resilience and inclusive growth. Read our joint statement in full below.

It was a pleasure to welcome Director General Jan Ellsberger of ETSI to Ofcom this week. We had a wide-ranging discussion about the future of digital infrastructure, connectivity and AI and, importantly, the role that standards play in making new technologies work securely, reliably and at scale. As networks become more software defined, AI enabled and increasingly critical to our economies and societies, international standards matter more than ever. They can help create interoperability, support innovation and competition, and build trust in technologies that are developing at extraordinary speed. There is a lot to do: from next-generation connectivity and resilient infrastructure to AI and the technologies that will underpin the digital economy of the future. An important moment for regulators, industry and standards bodies to work together to get this right.