Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference the Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services, published in July 2019, if she will make an assessment of compatibility of Ofcom’s intention to allow volume-based pricing discounts in the fixed line market with that Statement.

Through the 2019 Statement of Strategic Priorities (SSP), the Government gave Ofcom a strategic priority to incentivise market competition. Ofcom must have regard to this SSP when taking regulatory decisions and has introduced a number of pro-competition measures both in its 2021 Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review (WFTMR) and beyond. We meet regularly with Ofcom at all levels to monitor how the regulator delivers on its strategic priorities.

In relation to volume-based pricing discounts, the remedies set out by Ofcom in the WFTMR for downstream markets promote competition and investment in gigabit-capable networks. In all areas, Ofcom prohibits Openreach from using wholesale pricing structures to deter new network build by competing network operators by prohibiting certain geographic discounts and providing transparency of other commercial terms that may distort competition.

Given Ofcom’s statutory independence, it would otherwise not be appropriate for the Government to comment on its regulatory decisions, which are taken independent of the government.