REGULATORS WELCOME OFCOM ANNOUNCEMENT

THE FIVE communications regulators that will merge to form OFCOM have welcomed the announcement in the Queen’s Speech that a full draft of the Communications Bill will be published during the current Parliamentary session.
Coinciding with this announcement, the Chief Executives of the five regulators – Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC), Independent Television Commission (ITC), Oftel, Radiocommunications Agency and the Radio Authority, have appointed Towers Perrin, one of the world’s largest management consulting firms, to map out the process for setting up the new regulator.
Towers Perrin’s initial work will aim to provide a clear overall view of the functions, processes, structures and resources in each of the existing organisations. They will also assess the options for OFCOM in each of these four areas, propose criteria for evaluating these options and set out a clear timetable for the stages of work that will need to be carried out in order to get a fully functioning OFCOM up and running by 2003.
The consultants will report to a steering group on which all five Chief Executives sit, as well as the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
The work is scheduled for completion by the end of August 2001. (CD)