Dave wrote on Dec 17
th, 2007 at 2:01pm:
Why is it that those at Ofcom appear to have no technical knowledge in the area they regulate? Is it not their job to realise these sorts of issues exist?
or
dorf wrote on Dec 17
th, 2007 at 2:48pm:
Ofcom are well aware of what they are doing. It is just that they are somewhat politically and strategically inept and immature. They have plenty of technically-aware people on their staff in fact.
...So who's right? ...Dave of course!
Because unlike Oftel, Ofcom is actually very, very technically incompetent and doesn't listen to advise from telecom experts. Instead it listens to BT's commercially driven input (BT & Ofcom are just a short walk apart across the Millennium Bridge) and their media savvy bosses "policy objectives" e.g.
"lets get saynoto0870 off our backs" and
"oops! the Daily Mail is at it again! ".
So to survive and since the
CEO trained Tony and Gordon Ofcom must "spin" it all in their favour. Ofcom claims...
Quote:Ofcom does not regard the use of such services as falling within the generally understood use of personal numbering services.
This ignores their own
PN guidelines (which in fact permits use of 070 for very high security alarms with GSM mobile backup,
(WHERE THE COST OF 1 CALL PER ALARM IS NO OBJECT!) and where Premium rate is no good for alarms as users bar 09x and this accidentally disables the alarm.
Instead Ofcom pretends it was naughty users misusing the service and not its own fault at all!
But it was all Ofcom's fault and its fault alone:
The use of PCA's has been in breach of
ITU recommendation 3 of E.182 for over 20 years and for very good reasons... modems (e.g. alarms) won't work properly!
Since early 2005 industry (BT, UKCTA and the rest) has warned Ofcom that PCA's were a stupid and dangerous idea.
Ofcom didn't understand the Personal Number market until now. It only saw scams, which it had never dealt with properly e.g. by enforcement using big fines and removing 070 numbers from the bad guys.
Bad targeting, dangerous intervention, fudge and fiddle how bad can it get?
This isn't just any old U turn...
This is an Ofcom inspired U turn, using generous helpings of ignorance, selective deafness and political spin.
But the alternative to the U turn was a major motorway pileup, followed by a Health and Safety Executive investigation of Ofcom.