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Skip all front matter: Jump to Page 16 e RAND Corporation is a nonprot institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. is electronic document was made available from www.rand.org as a public service of the RAND Corporation. CHILDREN AND FAMILIES EDUCATION AND THE ARTS ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS LAW AND BUSINESS NATIONAL SECURITY POPULATION AND AGING PUBLIC SAFETY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY This product is part of the RAND Corporation technical report series. Reports may include research findings on a specific topic that is limited in scope; present discussions of the methodology employed in research; provide literature reviews, survey instru- ments, modeling exercises, guidelines for practitioners and research professionals, and supporting documentation; or deliver preliminary findings. All RAND reports un- dergo rigorous peer review to ensure that they meet high standards for research quality and objectivity. Ofcom: the effectiveness of converged regulation Emily Scraggs, Jonathan Cave, Christian van Stolk, Dimitris Potoglou, Simo Goshev, Mihaly Fazekas, Siobhán Ní Chonaill, Barbara Janta, Laura Brereton Prepared for the Naional Audit Office EUROPE RAND Europe is an independent, not-for-profit research organisation whose mission is to improve policy and decision making for the public good. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. R ® is a registered trademark. © Copyright 2012 RAND Corporation Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND documents to a non-RAND website is prohibited. RAND documents are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND permissions page (http://www.rand.org/publications/ permissions.html). Published 2012 by the RAND Corporation 1776 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202-5050 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2665 Westbrook Centre, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 1YG, United Kingdom RAND URL: http://www.rand.org RAND Europe URL: http://www.rand.org/randeurope To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451-7002; Fax: (310) 451-6915; Email: order@rand.org The research described in this document was prepared for the National Audit Office. iii Preface As part of a wider study to evaluate the effectiveness of Ofcom as a converged regulator, the National Audit Office commissioned RAND Europe to undertake comparative research on Ofcom in relation to communications regulators in other jurisdictions. This work began in February 2010 and was completed in July 2010. This report presents the findings of the research conducted on five case study areas as follows: Next generation access networks (NGAN) Access in the context of local loop unbundling (LLU) Access to emergency services over voice-over internet protocol (VOIP) Spectrum planning at the Olympics Management of mobile mis-selling. The report consists of the following parts: Executive summary which focuses on the key findings and conclusions Synthesis and analysis of the key themes emerging from the case study analysis Detailed description of the key findings in each of the case studies (in the appendices). The findings are based on a review of the relevant literature in each country and follow-up interactions with experts in those countries. The study will be of interest to those researching communications regulation in the UK and internationally. RAND Europe is an independent not-for-profit policy-research organisation whose mission is to help improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. We realise our mission by undertaking objective, balanced, relevant research and analysis, sharing insights and information widely, working in partnership with our clients and working collaboratively. This report has been peer reviewed in accordance with RAND’s quality assurance standards (see: http://www.rand.org/standards). Ofcom: the Effectiveness of Converged Regulation RAND Europe i v For more information about RAND Europe or this document, please contact: Dr Emily Scraggs or Dr Christian van Stolk RAND Europe Westbrook Centre Milton Road Cambridge CB4 1YG United Kingdom Tel. +44 (1223) 353 329 escraggs@rand.org v Contents Preface iii List of figures and tables vii Summary ix CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 CHAPTER 2 Methodology 6 CHAPTER 3 Synthesis of key findings in case studies 9 3.1 Introduction 9 3.2 Next generation access (NGA) 9 3.3 Local loop unbundling 13 3.4 Voice-over internet protocol access to emergency services 19 3.5 Spectrum planning for the 2012 London Olympics 23 3.6 Mobile mis-selling 28 REFERENCES 33 List of references 35 APPENDICES 43 Appendix A: Acronyms, glossary, regulators and other organisations 45 Appendix B: Methodology 53 Appendix C: Background and context 57 Appendix E: Access – local loop unbundling case study 71 Appendix F: Voice-over internet protocol case study 77 Appendix G: Spectrum Olympics case study 85 Appendix H: Mobile mis-selling case study 93 vii List of figures and tables Table 1.1: Separation of communication regulation functions in main case study countries 3 Table 2.1: Benchmarks for each case study area 6 Table 3.1: Summary of next generation access networks case study 13 Figure 3.1: Evolution of local loop unbundling in the EU case studies 17 Figure 3.2: Number of unbundled lines 17 Table 3.2: Summary of local loop unbundling case study 19 Table 3.3: Summary of voice-over internet protocol emergency service access case study 22 Table 3.4: Summary of Olympic spectrum policy case study 28 Table 3.5: Summary of mobile mis-selling case study 31 Table A.1: Acronyms and glossary 52 Table A.2: Regulators and other international/domestic organisations………………………………………………………… ……… 57 Table B.1: Case studies and countries 53 Table B.2: Characteristics of potential case studies 54 Table B.3: Topics covered within templates 55 Table D.1: Next generation fixed-line access network technologies 63 Table D.2: Next generation wireless access network technologies 65 Figure E.1: Evolution of local loop unbundling in the EU case studies 72 Figure E.2: Number of unbundled lines 72 [...]... reallocation of responsibilities since 2006 4 These are multi-sector rather than converged regulators 3 Ofcom: the Effectiveness of Converged Regulation RAND Europe Italy, The Netherlands, the USA and the mandate of the Information Society and Media Directorate General of the European Commission (EC DGINFSO) itself The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has always been a converged regulator,... February and April 2010.1 The main focus of this research was to provide an assessment of the success with which Ofcom has delivered regulatory outcomes by comparing them with the activities of other communications regulators in other countries The purpose of the research was to put the performance of Ofcom in an international context and to see whether Ofcom can draw any lessons from the approaches taken... regulators in other countries The purpose of the research was to put the performance of Ofcom in an international context and to see whether Ofcom can draw any lessons from the approaches taken and operational capacities developed by other regulators The findings of the report are based on a series of specific case studies reflecting particular policy areas These were jointly selected by the NAO, the study... cashback offers, in which the customer is promised refunds after the purchase that are impossible to get Looking at the extent of these mis-selling problems, in the UK we can see that there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of instances between 2007 and 2009 From the perspective of the consumer, in the UK mobile mis-selling is a reducing problem and therefore the public is less exposed to these... have been included in the study The long list was developed on the basis of the areas of interest of the NAO, technological developments in the sector, public interest and the potential future impact of the area The case studies that were chosen were selected on the basis of additional criteria, including the likelihood of accessing interesting data, considerations around the NAO audit programme in this... communities 3.3 Local loop unbundling Focus of the case study The local loop is the local access network which provides a set of wires going into people’s houses and other premises, thereby enabling the use of communication technologies LLU provides access to 13 Ofcom: the Effectiveness of Converged Regulation RAND Europe the local loop for alternative providers to offer services to end users LLU can take... further the interests of consumers in relevant markets where appropriate through competition The NAO published a study in 20062 on the costs and challenges arising from the creation of Ofcom That study reviewed the decisionmaking process behind the creation of Ofcom and how the merger was carried out, and undertook an early review of the extent to which it had achieved its high-level objectives The. .. planning for the 2012 London Olympics Mobile mis-selling In terms of the methodological processes applied to the development of these case studies, a number of steps were taken, as follows: 6 Ofcom: the Effectiveness of Converged Regulation RAND Europe Clarification meeting with NAO, RAND Europe and Ofcom: Once a short list of case studies had been developed, a meeting was held with the NAO, RAND... indications of the performance of Ofcom compared to other national communications regulators This report sets out the findings of research commissioned by the National Audit Office (NAO) and undertaken by RAND Europe between February and July 2010 The main focus of this research was to provide an assessment of the success with which Ofcom has delivered regulatory outcomes by comparing them with other national... France, 2004-4 0 France, 2004-3 1,000,000 Ofcom: the Effectiveness of Converged Regulation 3.3.5 RAND Europe The UK compares favourably to other countries on penetration and price In terms of broadband penetration, in 2008 the OECD set out the numbers of broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants The UK was marginally higher in terms of penetration than the other countries included in this comparative . analysis of the key themes emerging from the case study analysis Detailed description of the key findings in each of the case studies (in the appendices). The findings are based on a review of the. Germany, The Netherlands, France and Sweden there has been a reallocation of responsibilities since 2006. 4 These are multi-sector rather than converged regulators. Ofcom: the Effectiveness of Converged. advantages and drawbacks of these approaches depend on the scope of the change required, the range of parties involved, the speed of response required and the importance of different parties’