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<p>DCMS officials have frequent contact with Ofcom to take forward this work. I want
the switching process to be as easy and straightforward as possible for consumers
and I recognise that switching processes work better for consumers when only one call
needs to be made for the switch to happen, to the gaining provider. Working with Ofcom,
we will do everything we can to move towards a system of gaining-provider led switching
across the board.</p><p>In July, Ofcom published a call for inputs (which closed in
September) on switching providers of broadband, pay-TV, mobile voice and data services
and bundled services, in order to gauge the impact of these processes on consumers’
experience and on competition. Ofcom is conducting further research and holding discussions
with industry and consumer organisations. It will publish a document setting out its
findings in the first half of 2015.</p><p>We set out our thinking on GPL switching
in the Connectivity, Content and Consumers [CCC} Strategy Paper, published in July
2013. In December 2013 Ofcom announced that GPL switching would be mandated for broadband
and fixed telephony over the Openreach network. Full implementation of this will be
completed by June 2015. Since then, Ofcom has been assessing the consumer experience
of switching mobile services, pay-TV and bundles of electronic communications services
and will report in the first half of 2015, as I describe above.</p><p> </p>
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