Broadband
Ofcom completes first phase of digital communications review
MUMBAI: Ofcom has outlined the challenges facing the UK in ensuring that consumers and businesses receive high-quality digital communications services over the next decade and beyond.
Ofcom’s Strategic Review of Digital Communications, announced in March 2015, is examining competition, investment, innovation and the availability of all digital communications services. These include broadband, mobile, landline and bundled services.
Communications are essential to the functioning of the economy, and to the way people work and live. Improving these services for consumers and businesses is Ofcom’s first priority, and the review forms a fundamental part of that work.
Ofcom is seeking views on its review, which is focusing on four main areas detailed in a discussion document published:
• investment and innovation in the market, which can help make services widely available;
• competition, to deliver quality services and affordable prices;
• empowering consumers and businesses, particularly making sure they have the information and means to choose and switch between providers; and
• keeping regulation targeted at areas of concern, and deregulating where possible to allow markets to function well.
Ofcom CEO Sharon White said, “This review is about ensuring people get the best possible communications services, wherever they live and work.
“Our priorities are clear. We want to promote competition, investment and innovation, so that everyone benefits from even better coverage, choice, price and quality of service in years to come.”
Investment and innovation
UK consumers and businesses have benefited from significant investment in communications services in recent years. 4G mobile broadband is now available to 42 per cent of premises from all four operators, and 90 per cent from at least one. Superfast broadband is now available to 83 per cent of premises, with a range of providers competing on service and price.
Ofcom wants to see the widest possible availability of high-speed broadband at home, at work and on the move. Ofcom estimates that a broadband speed of 10Mbit/s is necessary to benefit from today’s popular online services, such as on-demand video. However, eight per cent of UK households cannot currently access those speeds.
Availability is a concern in more rural areas, particularly in the nations and regions, but also in some urban places where roll-out costs or low incomes present particular barriers. Ofcom’s review will seek possible solutions to these problems.
It is examining how regulation can enable the commercial development of future ultrafast broadband, making it as widely available as possible.
Ofcom is also considering what further options might be available to improve mobile services. Mobile 4G broadband will reach 98 per cent of UK premises, due to Ofcom rules and industry investment. But consumers’ and businesses’ growing expectations for reliable, universal, always-on voice and data services will need to be matched by network investment.
Making sure competition delivers
A major focus of the current review is how well competition is delivering benefits to consumers and businesses. Ofcom’s last strategic review began in December 2003, concluding in September 2005. It led to the creation of Openreach, through which BT is required to provide access to competing providers on equal terms, for them to offer telecoms services to consumers.
This approach has delivered real choice, quality and value for phone and broadband customers over many years. However, some challenges remain. For example, the incentive for BT to discriminate against competing providers can be limited by regulation, but not removed entirely.
BT’s network has evolved in recent years, with fibre lines running closer to premises. This may require different models of competition than those that worked best for the traditional copper telecoms network.
In addition, Ofcom has been concerned that Openreach’s performance on behalf of providers has too often been poor, requiring the introduction of rules for faster line installations and fault repairs.
The review will address these issues, and Ofcom is today seeking views and evidence on future regulatory approaches, including:
• Retaining the current model, where Openreach operates as ‘functionally separate’ from BT, and using regular market reviews to address any concerns around competition;
• Strengthening the current model by applying new rules to BT – such as controls on its wholesale charges with stronger incentives to improve quality of service, or tougher penalties if BT falls short;
• Separating Openreach from BT could deliver competition or wider benefits for end users. It would remove BT’s underlying incentive to discriminate against competitors. Separation could also offer ways to simplify existing regulation. However, the process would be challenging and it may not address some concerns relating to Openreach – such as service quality, or the timing and level of investment decisions;
• Deregulating and promoting competition between networks. Virgin Media and a variety of smaller operators own networks, which allow them to provide phone and broadband services without using BT’s network at all. This kind of ‘end to end’ competition, which sometimes involves running fibre lines directly to premises, can help incentivise Open reach to improve its infrastructure. However, it could also lead to duplication of networks and weak competition.
It will also examine converging media services – offered over different platforms, or as a ‘bundle’ by the same operator. For example, telecoms services are increasingly sold to consumers in the form of bundles, sometimes with broadcasting content; this can offer consumer benefits, but may also present risks to competition.
Empowering consumers and businesses
People tailor communications services to their own needs, choosing from a range of providers at a price that suits them. For this to work properly, they need to understand the range of options available to them, and be able to switch between them effectively.
Ofcom’s review is considering whether consumers have all the information they need to make the choice that is right for them, both when researching the market and at the point of sale. It is also looking at how switching between providers might be made easier.
On 20 June, Ofcom introduced new rules that mean people can switch provider over BT’s network by only dealing with their new supplier. Ofcom is currently considering whether similar processes may be appropriate for mobile and services bundled with pay TV, as consumers increasingly buy services this way.
Beyond this, Ofcom is keen to explore new ways in which consumers can engage with the market, in order to benefit from competition. Examples might include making services easier to compare, and increasing access to independent advice or feedback generated by users.
Targeted regulation and deregulation
The rules that govern the communications sector must evolve to keep pace with developments in technology, consumer needs and expectations. Ofcom’s review will identify where existing regulation may be simplified, removed or replaced.
For example, the rise of ‘over the top’ (OTT) internet communications services, such as instant messaging, may create a case for less regulation on mobile operators, or for extending existing rules to internet-based services.
Next steps
Today’s discussion document marks the conclusion of the first phase of Ofcom’s Strategic Review of Digital Communications. Since announcing the review, Ofcom has been engaging with a wide range of stakeholders – including industry, consumer groups, the UK Government and devolved administrations – through meetings and workshops.
Ofcom will now take forward the review’s second phase, and is seeking evidence and responses to the discussion document by 8 October, 2015. This will inform a statement at the turn of the year on priorities and action, which will shape Ofcom’s regulatory approach for the next decade.
Broadband
Tejas Networks names Arnob Roy as MD and CEO, overhauls top leadership team
The Bengaluru-based telecom gear maker reshuffles its entire top team even as quarterly revenue collapses by 83 per cent
BENGALURU: Tejas Networks is changing the guard at the top, and doing so at speed. The Bengaluru-headquartered telecom equipment maker has elevated Arnob Roy as managing director and chief executive officer, effective April 15, 2026, for a term running through to August 3, 2028, and in the same breath announced new appointments across operations and finance. The timing is pointed: the company is navigating one of the roughest patches in its recent history.
Roy steps up from his role as executive director and chief operating officer, a position he has held since March 2019. He brings more than three decades of experience in the high-technology sector across research and development, operations, and sales. His predecessor, Anand Athreya, resigned last year citing personal reasons and was relieved on June 20, 2025, leaving a gap at the top that has now been formally filled.
The numbers Roy inherits are sobering. Tejas posted a net loss of Rs 211.3 crore in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, a near-194 per cent widening year on year from Rs 71.8 crore in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter collapsed 82.6 per cent year on year to Rs 333 crore, down from Rs 1,907 crore. EBITDA swung to a loss of Rs 118.2 crore against a profit of Rs 121.5 crore a year ago. The culprit is not hard to identify: Tejas has derived the bulk of its revenue from BSNL’s fourth-generation network project, delivered as part of a Tata Consultancy Services-driven consortium, and that roll-out is now winding down.
Roy, speaking during a post-earnings conference call with analysts, was candid about where the company has been. “The BSNL 4G network went live across 100,000 sites. We deployed our largest indigenous router networks in the country through the BSNL MAN network, as well as in the BharatNet Phase 3 network,” he said, adding that Tejas had also successfully rolled out its 400G and 800G DWDM equipment in domestic and international markets, and continued the deployment of what it describes as the world’s largest satellite IoT network through its vehicle tracking system solution.
The pivot to new revenue streams is already under way. Tejas has partnered with Japan’s Rakuten Symphony and NEC Corporation to push deeper into international markets, with several Open Radio Access Network trials ongoing, one of which concluded recently. The company is also diversifying across equipment categories and geographies to sustain momentum as the BSNL chapter closes.
To prosecute that strategy, Roy needs a full team around him. Preetham Uthaiah has been appointed chief operating officer, moving up from his current role as vice president of product management for wireless products at Tejas Networks. Uthaiah brings nearly 30 years of global experience spanning engineering, product management, and business development across India and the United States. Before joining Tejas Networks, he served as executive vice president of product management, marketing, and strategy at Saankhya Labs, and held senior roles at Tech Mahindra on both sides of the Atlantic. He holds an MBA from Arizona State University and a degree in electronics and communications from Karnatak University.
On the finance front, AVS Prasad has been approved as chief financial officer, effective May 16, 2026, succeeding Sumit Dhingra, who has resigned. Prasad, currently serving as finance controller at Tejas Networks, brings over 27 years of experience within the Tata Group across telecom, aerostructures, and defence. A company secretary and cost and management accountant by training, he has spent more than 15 years in senior finance roles including CFO and financial controller positions, with expertise spanning corporate finance, treasury management, regulatory compliance, internal audit, and governance.
New chief executive, new chief operating officer, new chief financial officer — all installed in a single move, at a moment when the company’s largest revenue source is drying up and the next chapter remains unwritten. Tejas Networks has placed its bets. Now it has to deliver.
