UK: Switch Your ISP in "One Touch"

UK Broadband providers should work harder now on customer satisfaction, as unhappy subscribers may switch their provider in "One Touch".

Ofcom announced that "Earlier this summer the process of switching between providers who use the Openreach telecoms network - such as BT, EE, Sky and TalkTalk - became simpler and smoother.

A new 'one touch' process now places the responsibility for the broadband or landline switch entirely in the hands of the company to which the customer is moving .. Under the new system, consumers no longer need to cancel their contract with their old provider. Instead, the whole switching process is handled by their new supplier on their behalf.

Once the switching process is under way, the consumer receives written confirmation from both the old and new provider. If the consumer changes their mind, they can cancel the switch".

See "Easier broadband switching" - here.

Ofcom Report on Traffic Management Detection Methods

While  "Unlike some countries, All ISPs Voluntary Signed for the Net Neutrality Code"[here],  Ofcom, the UK regulator, had to find ways for detecting the use of traffic shaping practices used by ISPs and commissioned study that was published recently - "A Study of Traffic Management Detection Methods & Tools" (here).

Ofcom explains that "As consumers use more 'bandwidth hungry' Internet services such as video, existing access networks are likely to experience congestion problems. One way for Internet service providers (ISPs) to manage congestion is to increase the capacity of their networks. Yet, even in the longer term, congestion problems are still likely to persist as demand continues to rise; in particular on wireless networks. Alternatively, ISPs can adopt traffic management (TM) techniques to alleviate network congestion. 

[See also - "[UK] Ofcom Research on Transparency of Traffic Management" - here]

Potential TM points in the UK broadband infrastructure (wireline)
Source: "A Study of Traffic Management Detection Methods & Tools" (here). 

.. It is envisaged that a practical TM detection mechanism could be a useful part of the regulatory toolkit for helping the communications market deliver online content and services that meet consumer expectations. For example, such a mechanism could potentially help to increase transparency for consumers, visibility for the regulator, and benefits for online service providers.

The report provides a comparative analysis of the identified methods and tools, for example,
in terms of:

• Their efficacy in detecting and quantifying the presence of TM in a given network;
• The impact on the network and the consumer in terms generated traffic volume, quality of experience, etc; and
• The need for a given tool or methodology to be integrated within, or executed outside a given ISP’s network infrastructure.

This literature review was commissioned by Ofcom to better understand the techniques that could be potentially used to detect traffic management"

See "Traffic Management Detection Methods & Tools" - here.

UK: LTE Performs Better than 3G!

Finally, a prove that the huge investment in LTE pays off!

   

A new research by the British regulator, Ofcom, finds that "Overall, 4G networks performed much better than 3G networks in five sample towns and cities tested - Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Newcastle and Poole/Bournemouth - where both 4G and 3G networks have been rolled out. In these areas, 4G networks delivered an average download speed of 14.7Mbit/s (compared with 5.9Mbit/s on 3G) and took 0.72 seconds to load a web page (compared with 1.04 seconds on 3G).

Source: Ofcom

Average download speeds, by provider, Q4 2014 Source: Ofcom

"For web browsing speed, the research measured the time it took to load a standard web page. Web browsing is one of the most popular activities on 4G. Across all 4G networks tested, average web browsing speed was 0.72 seconds"

Average web browsing speeds by provider, Q4 2014 (lower is better) Source: Ofcom

See "Ofcom today published research into 4G and 3G mobile broadband performance" - here.

UK: 4G vs. 3G QoE Tested

Ofcom published its first research into "..consumers' experience of mobile broadband in the UK since the 4G auction in 2013. The research measured the performance of 4G and 3G services on smartphones from the four main mobile operators - EE, O2, Three and Vodafone - in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Manchester". 

Using smartphones, some 210,000 tests of 4G and 3G mobile broadband were carried out both indoors and outdoors across the five UK cities between March and June 2014 .. The research compared the performance of 4G and 3G services overall and highlighted variations between operators across four key measures: Download speed, Upload speed, Web browsing speed and Latency". 

See "4G and 3G mobile broadband speeds research" - here.

[UK]: Cable Service is Faster than Fiber!

According to a new research by the UK regulator, Ofcom, the "average broadband speed delivered by cable services is now faster than that of fibre - In the six months to May 2014, the average speed delivered by cable broadband reached 43.3Mbit/s, overtaking the average speed for fibre connections for the first time (42.0Mbit/s)"

Average broadband speeds for fixed broadband connections,
all connections including ‘up to’ 2Mbit/s and less, by technology
Source: Ofcom

Key findings from Ofcom's research show that between November 2013 and May 2014:

• the average actual UK broadband speed increased by 5% (0.9Mbit/s) to 18.7Mbit/s;

Average UK broadband speed:
May 2014 Source: Ofcom

• take-up of superfast services (those with a headline speed of 30Mbit/s and above) increased from 24% to 28% of connections, while average superfast speeds remained stable at 47Mbit/s;
   
• the extent to which speeds were maintained during peak evening times varied significantly between broadband packages, ranging from 76% to 96% of maximum speeds"

Finding regarding providers:

• "Virgin Media's ‘up to' 152Mbit/s cable service, which launched in February 2014, achieved the fastest download speed over a 24 hour period, averaging 141.9Mbit/s
   
• This was followed by BT's ‘up to' 76Mbit/s fibre package, which delivered an average download speed of 62.0Mbit/s
   
• EE's ‘up to' 38Mbit/s package experienced the greatest degradation in speeds during peak times. The average speed for this type of connection between 8pm and 10pm was 27.2Mbit/s - 76% of the maximum speed (35.8Mbit/s). Five per cent of consumers on this package received average peak-time speeds that exceeded 90% of their maximum speed
   
• In comparison, customers on Sky's 'up to' 38Mbit/s package saw the least degradation in average speeds. Speeds achieved during evening peak-time (34.5Mbit/s) were 96% of the average maximum speed (35.9Mbit/s)"

See "Average cable broadband speed overtakes fibre" - here.

UK: How do ISPs Implement Network Based Parental Control Service?

Ofcom has "published a report for Government outlining measures the UK's largest internet service providers have put in place to help parents protect children from harmful content online. This follows an agreement between the Government and BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media, the four largest fixed line internet service providers (ISPs), announced in July 2013 [see "UK to Enforce Opt Out Network Based Web Filtering on All ISPs" - here]. Each ISP committed to offer new customers 'family-friendly network-level filtering' by the end of December 2013 [see "UK ISPs for Safer Internet" - here]" 

"The report finds that the four ISPs now have a network level family friendly filtering service .. There are a number of filtering categories common to all four ISPs. Suicide and self-harm, pornography, file sharing, crime, drugs, violence and hate are covered by each provider's classification systems .. All of the ISPs offer some additional services alongside the network family-friendly filters, some including internet security services aimed at protecting the subscriber from issues like viruses or malware. All offer device level filtering or security software for installation on individual computers

All of the ISPs have commissioned third parties to perform the categorisation of 

internet content and services: 

• BT and Virgin employ Nominum
• Sky uses Symantec 
• TalkTalk uses Huawei [see "Huawei's SIG: Policy Enforcement and URL Filtering" - here], although Symantec was also initially involved.

The filtering solutions rely on two basic technologies:

• Filtering by Uniform Resource Locator (URL) blocking: the filtering of sites or services based on their web address – either addresses covering whole websites (http://www.example.com) or individual sections or pages on those sites (http://www.example.com/adultpictures). This involves the ISP checking some or all of the URLs which an opted-in subscriber requests against the list of sites or pages to be blocked. If there is a match, the subscriber request is not fulfilled – typically a page with the message “this site is blocked because it is classified as…” may be delivered instead.

• Filtering by Domain Name System (DNS) alteration: the DNS translates domain names (“www.example.com” into IP addresses “192.0.32.10”), to allow a subscriber’s content request to be correctly directed – this is the first stage in requesting a website or service. When used for filtering, the ISP’s DNS server will not provide the IP address for domains on the list; it may instead direct the subscriber request to an information page with “this site is blocked because it is classified as…”.

Each of Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk has adopted a slightly different version of URL blocking; Sky’s filtering system is exclusively based on its DNS servers. The use of URL blocking allows a more granular classification of online content and services: Sky’s system will always block whole domains, while BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk can target specific parts of a domain.

See "Ofcom publishes report on internet safety measures" - here.

[UK] Ofcom Research on Transparency of Traffic Management

The nice consumer guide issued by Ofcom on UK ISP's Traffic Management practices (see "[UK]: Ofcom Consumer Guide for Traffic Management" - here) was based on a research initiated by Ofcom.

Back in April Ofcom announced that "During 2013/14 Ofcom’s work on consumer information will address areas where we believe information provided by the market is insufficient. Examples of this will include: .. Traffic management practices: we are doing further work to consider the transparency of information on traffic management" (see "Ofcom Checks Traffic Management Practices" - here). More background in "Consumer research into the transparency of traffic management information provided by ISPs" - here.

The research was done by Kantar Media and published in "Transparency in internet traffic management"

The key findings related to traffic management are:

• Traffic management policies play little role in consumers’ ISP selection decisions, with only 1% claiming to have considered this for their fixed and/or mobile broadband purchases.
   
• There is a widespread lack of awareness about traffic management information. Roughly 1 in 10 internet consumers were aware of the term and meaning of traffic management, with less than a third (29%) being aware that traffic management processes were currently in use by internet providers.

• Once traffic management processes were explained 6% of internet users claimed they would consider traffic management in their future ISP selections, while the qualitative research indicated it would be of most interest to those who are currently experiencing internet related problems during peak times, particularly among households with multiple internet users
   
• Of the 9% of consumers who were aware of their ISP’s traffic management policy, 73% claimed that the information on traffic management provided was easy to understand.

[UK]: Ofcom Consumer Guide for Traffic Management

 

I am following the UK traffic management regulation since the early days of this blog (see "DPI Deployments - Part4: UK - Everybody is Doing it !" - here), as the UK ISPs are more transparent in their disclosure (voluntarily or by regulation - see "[UK]: Self Regulation doesn't Satisfy Ofcom; Publishes Minimum Disclosure Level" - here) compared to ISPs in other countries.

On top of all that, Ofcom published a new consumer guide, explaining consumers what is traffic management and exposing ISPs policies. They used the common comparing Broadband Traffic Management to motorways, serving variety of cars and

"With 46 million people in the UK having access to broadband and many using it for data heavy activities such as streaming and downloading, the internet is becoming increasingly busy.To ensure that networks operate efficiently, ISPs can restrict or ration traffic on their networks, or give priority to some types of traffic over others. This is known as ‘traffic management’.

"Each ISP has its own traffic management policy and so when choosing a provider you should check their policy meets your needs. Below you will find links to policies of the largest providers. If your ISP is not on this list, visit your provider’s website or speak to their customer services department: BT, Karoo, Plusnet, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media (National and Cable), O2 (Home broadband and mobile broadband), EE (Handsets, broadband and mobile,broadband), Three, Vodafone."

See "New consumer guide on internet ‘traffic management’" - here.

[UK]: Broadband Transparency Improves

Transparency is very important to the UK regulator (see "Ofcom: Getting Ready for Speed Advertising Guidelines"-  here; "Self Regulation doesn't Satisfy Ofcom; Publishes Minimum Disclosure Level" - here and "Transparency for Unlimited and "up-to" Service Speeds" - here).

Ofcom seems to be happy with its regulation efforts and is saying now that "UK consumers are receiving better information about the broadband speeds they can expect to receive from a new supplier, according to Ofcom research published today. Ofcom has carried out mystery shopping into whether internet service providers are giving consumers relevant information about expected broadband speeds .. Mystery shopping revealed a speed estimate in the form of a range was provided in four out of every five calls (80%), up from 68% in 2012" (see Comparison of ISPs’ compliance with speeds information requirements below). 

Just need to see that the information provided before joining the service reflects the actual service level.

Source: Ofcom

See "Consumers receiving better information on broadband speeds" - here.

Ofcom to Pilot ‘white space’ Technology

One more step towards a to solve the mobile data tsunami .. Ofcom announced "plans for a pilot of innovative ‘white space’ technology in the UK, among the first of its kind in Europe. The technology uses gaps in radio spectrum, called ‘white spaces’, which exist in between frequency bands. In this instance, these bands have been reserved for digital terrestrial TV broadcasting and wireless microphones.

Use of these white spaces will allow devices to transmit and receive wireless signals for applications such as broadband access for rural communities, Wi-Fi-like services or new ‘machine-to-machine’ networks.

Source: wireless pulse, Comsearch

Ofcom is inviting industry to take part in the pilot, which is intended to take place in the autumn".

See "Ofcom invites industry to pilot ‘white space’ devices" - here.

Ofcom Checks Traffic Management Practices

Some highlights from UK's regulator, Ofcom, 2013/4 work plan (here, below):

"During 2013/14 Ofcom’s work on consumer information will address areas where we believe information provided by the market is insufficient. Examples of this will include:

• Broadband speeds research: We will continue our work to ensure that consumers have adequate information on the actual fixed-line and mobile broadband speeds available, to help them make informed choices when selecting their broadband provider. We plan to publish research every six months, allowing consumers to see how broadband speeds vary across different providers, technologies, geographic areas and time periods.
   
• Traffic management practices: we are doing further work to consider the transparency of information on traffic management, including a more detailed review of traffic management practices, to ensure consumers are getting the information they need to make informed choices. This work has started only  recently, but may result in modifications to the current industry codes, or the integration of new content with the existing Ofcom sponsored codes such as that on broadband speeds. Any outcomes will be based on analysis of how well the existing industry code fulfils the intended goal of providing sufficient transparency for consumers to make informed decisions."

UK: Usability Limits Wi-Fi Offloading, Although Operators have 3,516,000 Hot Spots

 
The recent Ofcom infrastructure report (here) provides some interesting information on Wi-Fi usage by fixed and mobile operators:

"Another way to manage the growing demand for mobile data is to offload the data onto a fixed network. Many mobile devices are also Wi-Fi enabled and can connect to fixed networks using Wi-Fi hotspots. Mobile data use in these devices can be offloaded onto a residential Wi-Fi network or onto public Wi-Fi hot spots".

"For this report, we gathered data from the main fixed and mobile operators, who manage around 16,000 public Wi-Fi hot spots in the UK (excluding BT Fon hotspots). BT claims to have 3.5 million hotspots [here] throughout UK and Ireland (including their Fon hotspots). There are public Wi-Fi hotspots provided by other companies, who are not fixed or mobile operators. These have not been included in our analysis" [See also "London 2012 - 500,000 spectators, 500,000 Wi-Fi HotSpots" - here].

"The data we gathered from our sample of operators on the use of public Wi-Fi hotspots shows that the volume of data through public Wi-Fi is just 3.8% of that going via mobile masts, even though hotspots are available in many areas of high footfall. A possible reason why they are not used more widely is the complexity involved in authenticating to Wi-Fi access points (i.e. the need to log in and the need to reregister with new hotspots when on the move). Lack of interoperability between different operators may also be a contributory factor. However, the majority of smart phone users do use Wi-Fi at home suggesting that customers are willing to use Wi-Fi and are aware of its benefits, which leads us to believe that there is an untapped demand for Wi-Fi hotspots".

Geographical distribution of Wi-Fi hotspots (hotspots per 1000 premises) source: Ofcom

[Ofcom] UK Traffic Management; P2P Might be Reduced by 99%

In its 2012 update, Ofcom, the UK regulator reports also on the status of traffic management in the UK. Ofcom says  [see also "UK: Broadband ISPs (except Sky) Still Limit P2P; Some Prioritize VoIP!" - here]:

• We looked at the traffic management polices used by fixed and mobile operators and found that there is often significant variation in fixed ISPs’ and mobile operators’ traffic management practices. While most apply traffic management in some form, others do not and use the fact that they have no traffic management as a part of their promotional message (e.g. advertising their service as ‘truly unlimited’ in terms of both data use and throttling of certain services). 
   
• Most commonly, ISPs tend to apply traffic management to P2P services such as BitTorrent. P2P traffic is most likely to have restrictions placed on it because of the way it works: the nature of P2P software is such that it increases data usage along a network to fill whatever capacity is available. That, and the fact that P2P downloads are not typically as time-dependent as other types of application mean that many ISPs and mobile operators find that controlling P2P traffic is an approach to keep down network infrastructure costs. 

• The impact of traffic management on users of P2P services can be significant – in some cases speeds of P2P traffic can be reduced to a fraction of the speed of other traffic on the network. We asked operators to estimate the impact of traffic management restrictions. Although most told us that such calculations were too difficult to make, others told us that the impact could be significant, e.g. one fixed ISP said the estimated impact of its traffic management policies was to reduce P2P traffic to 1% of what it would otherwise be at peak times. 

• P2P is not the only type of traffic which is subject to traffic management. For example, O2 restricts the speed of video traffic on its lowest priced broadband package to 0.8Mbit/s, and offers higher-priced broadband packages that do not use traffic management for video traffic.
   
• In some cases, particular types of traffic are given greater priority and consumers who particularly value a type of service can choose packages that prioritise such traffic. For instance, Plusnet offers a premium broadband service for an additional £5 a month which gives priority to gaming traffic and traffic for virtual private networks (VPN).

See more - "Infrastructure Report - 2012 Update" - here. 

There is always another Way to Download

     

Peter Sunde, co-founder,

Pirate Bay

Mark Jackson report to ISPreview that "One of the country’s largest broadband ISPs has revealed that the recent censorship of The Pirate Bay website has had only a short-lived impact upon overall P2P file sharing traffic, with data volumes dipping 11% immediately after the ban before returning “pretty much back to where they were before“.

See "UK ISPs Ordered to Block Pirate Bay" (here) for background on the censorship, as well as what the UK regulator, Ofcom thinks of web blocking ("Ofcom: "All site blocking techniques can be circumvented" - [The Leaked Document]"- here).

It is not clear if users accessed Pirate Bay or other site/s to reach copyrighted material, or used P2P for other file transfers.

Mark explain that "In fairness it should be said that ISPs generally only keep a very vague record of overall network activity, which cannot identify precisely what type of files are being transferred over P2P networks (legal, unlawful or illegal content etc.). As a result it’s difficult to know what the real impact has been, although users of such content tend to switch over to a different site or simply work their way around the block itself. In any case overall P2P traffic, which was the primary focus of The Pirate Bay, appears not to have suffered".

See "Big UK ISP Claims the The Pirate Bay Block Had Little Impact on P2P Traffic" - here.

Ofcom - Spectrum Management for the Olympic Games

Ofcom published is final plans regarding the organization of spectrum during the 2012 London Olympic Games.

"As part of the UK's bid to hold the 2012 Games, the UK Government guaranteed the allocation of the spectrum required for the organisation of the Games. Ofcom is responsible for managing spectrum for the Games, in accordance with the Government’s guarantees".

See "Countdown to the London 2012 Games" - here. See also "UK 2012 Olympic Delegation: All Available Frequencies (and Athletes)" - here.

UK: "3 Strikes" Regulation Expected in 2014; Scam Emails Already Received

Ofcom warned UK consumers over email scams related to the non-existent copyright infringement regulation "Ofcom is aware of a current email scam which attempts to persuade the recipient to pay a fine, supposedly relating to copyright infringement under the Digital Economy Act" (here).

Last week Ofcom published a proposal for a plan similar to the one used in France (see "Large UK ISPs will Fight Copyright Infringements" - here) that will become effective, if accepted, in 2014. 

Mark Tyson reported to Hexus on the scam, showing the fake message "While fresh in the average Brit’s mind some ‘enterprising’ phishing email writers have been crafting a ‘legit’ looking letter, despite being partially written in pidgin or ‘Google Translate’ English"  (below). 

See "Fake Digital Economy Act fines being sent out via email" - here. 

Large UK ISPs will Fight Copyright Infringements

Being fashionably late (for a party that is almost over now - see "French Copyright Law - 165 Cases Reached Court; File Sharing Declines" - here), the UK regulator, Ofcom published a "draft code for consultation that would require large internet service providers (ISPs) to inform customers of allegations that their internet connection has been used to infringe copyright".

See also "UK Culture Minister Vaizey:"ISPs have their role to play to help consumers find legitimate content" - here and

"The code will initially cover ISPs with more than 400,000 broadband-enabled fixed lines – currently BT, Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, TalkTalk Group and Virgin Media. Together these providers account for more than 93% of the retail broadband market in the UK. The draft code requires ISPs to send letters to customers, at least a month apart, informing them when their account is connected to reports of suspected online copyright infringement.

If a customer receives three letters or more within a 12-month period, anonymous information may be provided on request to copyright owners showing them which infringement reports are linked to that customer’s account. The copyright owner may then seek a court order requiring the ISP to reveal the identity of the customer, with a view to taking legal action for infringement under the Copyright Designs and Patent Act 1988".

What seems to be a long process will start now and "Ofcom currently expects the first customer notification letters to be sent in early 2014"

See "New measures to protect online copyright and inform consumers" - here.

Ofcom: Consumers do not Understand how Mobile Data Works, so they Pay!

 

The UK regulator, Ofcom, published a "an action plan to tackle the problem of unexpectedly high phone bills including publishing new online consumer advice." 

Ofcom action plan "to tackle unexpectedly high bills" consists of "Extending EU Roaming Regulation, Encouraging providers to set financial caps, Exploring introduction of maximum liability limits and Reminding providers to make tariffs transparent"

On the mobile data part, Ofcom finds that bill shock resulting for excessive data use is particularly challenging (see the document - "Review of Unexpectedly High Bills /Findings and Next Steps" - here):

Source: Ofcom

"It is likely to be particularly difficult for consumers to prevent unexpectedly high bills arising in respect of data services (without becoming so risk-averse that they do not benefit fully from the services and applications that are available). Usage alerts could help consumers to ‘learn’ to estimate data usage, but they are still likely to find it difficult to estimate the cost of data usage once they have used up their inclusive allowances, or if they use data services not included within their allowances"

"There are three reasons for this, which we identified from what consumers told us in their complaints to us and in their responses to the Call for Inputs:

a) First, there is no clear relationship between time spent using the service and the cost incurred; it is harder to estimate the cost of downloading a video, which is charged per megabyte (“MB”), than it is to estimate the cost of making a phone call, which is charged per minute.

b) Secondly, smartphones are complex devices and the evidence we have gathered suggests that some consumers do not understand fully how they work. For example, consumers can inadvertently download emails or software upgrades, or can download data via a mobile network when they think they are doing so via a Wi-Fi connection.

c) Thirdly, charges for downloading data tend to be much higher once consumers exceed their allowances.

Ofcom: Getting Ready for Speed Advertising Guidelines

 
Few months ago, the UK BCAP (Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice) published a set of guidelines to " bring clarity to advertisers and consumers on the use of "unlimited" and "up to" speed claims in telecommunicatons and broadband ads" (see " UK: Transparency for Unlimited and "up-to" Service Speeds" - here). These guidelines will become effective on April 2012; Do they already help UK subscribers? We can’t tell yet, as Ofcom reports are not aligned with the guidelines criteria.

As Ofcom, the UK regulation body, regulary measures and reports broadband speeds by ISP and access type, it will be interesting to see the effect of the guidelines on actual service levels (see the previous reports - "Ofcom: ADSL Actual Download Speed is Only a Third of Advertized Speed" - here). 

In its current report Ofcom concluded the following. As the statistics do not match the criteria set in the above regulation, it is not possible to analyze if UK ISPs are already fully transparent in their advertised speeds.

• In November 2011, the average actual UK residential broadband speed was 7.6Mbit/s, compared with 6.2Mbit/s in November/December 2010, and 6.8Mbit/s in May 2011 .. This increase was mainly as a result of consumers moving onto higher speed packages
   
• Of the 13 ISP packages covered, Ofcom’s research found that the fibre-based and cable broadband technologies were fastest. Virgin Media’s ‘up to’ 50Mbit/s continued to have the highest average download speeds of approximately 49Mbit/s. BT’s fibre-based service (BT Infinity) delivered average download speeds of around 36Mbit/s, up from approximately 34Mbit/s in May 2011. The service also achieved the highest average upload speeds of 8.8Mbit/s. All other ISP packages did not change significantly from May 2011.
   

 

See "Jump in UK broadband speeds" - here. 

UK 2012 Olympic Delegation: All Available Frequencies (and Athletes)

 
Back in October I had a post predicting hard time for mobile services during the London Olympic Games this summer:

"London mayor Boris Johnson, Three CEO David Dyson and others have warned that London will run out of mobile capacity within a year, and that the influx of visitors to the 2012 Olympics was likely to crash the existing networks" (see "A Year Before the Olympics - London is Running Out of Mobile Capacity" - here).

It turns out that the UK regulator, Ofcom, wasn't ignoring the challenge and "has been working on a plan since 2006 to ensure that viewers will not miss any of the sporting action".

In a new report, Ofcom says that ".. The event presents a unique logistical challenge never faced before by the UK, with a need to assign up to 20,000 wireless frequencies to be used for the Games in London, more than double the number usually assigned in a year" and lists how the demand for capacity will be met:

"To meet the extra demands of broadcasters, media and the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) during Games time, Ofcom has developed a plan to secure additional capacity. This will be achieved in four main ways:

• By borrowing spectrum on a short-term basis from public sector bodies, such as the Ministry of Defence
• Ensuring that civil spectrum is used efficiently by making unused frequencies available. An example of this is spectrum that will shortly be auctioned by Ofcom, but is currently not being used
• Making use of spectrum freed up by the digital switchover
• Using spectrum that is available without the need for a licence

See "Record spectrum demand at London 2012 Games" - here.