Posted on: 7th May 2025, by Magrathea
Welcome to the May newsletter, combining news from Magrathea and around the industry.
What’s included
- Ofcom Statement: Global Titles and Mobile Network Security
- Ofcom Enforcement: Investigation into Primo Partnership
- ComReg Consultation: Proposed amendments to complaint handling
- DSIT Policy Statement: Cyber Security and Resilience Bill (article link)
- Service Spotlight: Secure RTP
- Reminder: WLR Shutdown
- Reminder: CLI blocking
- Reminder: Status Page
- Porting Update: Tactical Erroneous Transfer Process
- Business Switching
- Workshop invitation: Number Portability – 12th June 2025
- Events and outings
- What’s on our minds…
Ofcom Statement: Global Titles and Mobile Network Security
Global Titles are used to send and receive signals that help locate and connect mobile phone users to networks and to one another. They can be misused to intercept calls and messages or cause network disruption, so Ofcom want greater controls over who they are assigned to. Ofcom have now published a statement confirming a ban on the leasing of Global Titles to third parties or sub-allocatees. Full details of timings and impact can be found here.
Ofcom Enforcement: Investigation into Primo Partnership
For the second time in just a few months Ofcom have commenced a formal investigation into the misuse of telephone numbers. This supports their plan to take a much firmer stance against providers who facilitate misuse of the telecoms network. Once again, we would like to remind our clients that our due diligence process is robust for good reason and we urge each of you to review your own process. You can find our guide here to help.
ComReg Consultation: Proposed amendments to complaint handling
ComReg report having received complaints from end-users that, when they raise issues with their providers, they are not being treated in accordance with their providers’ own codes of practices. Comreg have also conducted their own investigations and have found a number of issues which support end-user concerns.
As a result, Comreg are proposing some amendments to the minimum requirements an end-user should be able to expect and what to do if these are not met. This consultation clearly outlines their proposed changes which include correct identification of complaints right from the start, an expectation that it should not take any longer than 10 working days to resolve the problem or at least receive an update, a durable medium of communication used for on-going updates with the end-user and records of the complaint are kept for at least a year. Full details and an opportunity to comment can be found here. Responses must be submitted by 27th May.
We can’t see anything here which should alarm any provider who works hard to ensure a good end-user experience and is following their own code of practice on complaint handling. The proposed way forward looks proportionate however there is a slight warning, whilst Comreg are currently avoiding implementing hard and fast rules, if providers in general do not step up then this position will be reviewed.
DSIT Policy Statement: Cyber Security and Resilience Bill
Following our comments in the last newsletter, DSIT have recently released a policy statement that not only shows the intention to create the new Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, but also to grant extra powers within it in order to enable the government and regulators to amend and adapt in this rapidly evolving technical landscape. Tracey has written an article to highlight why this legislation is critical to all of us, which can be found here.
On the topic of resilience, remember all of our clients have access to our Guidance on the UK Telecommunications Security Framework. This can be downloaded here.
Service Spotlight: Secure RTP
Magrathea’s Secure RTP product allows for both the voice and signalling traffic associated with a telephone call to be protected from interception and monitoring through the use of TLS to protect the SIP signalling and SRTP to provide encryption of the audio RTP traffic. The product is designed to give you greater peace of mind about the integrity of the calls being sent to your network.
For more information about our Secure RTP product please contact our team.
Reminder: WLR Shutdown
Forgive the repetition but we really are on the countdown now to the original WLR shutdown date of December, which is still the date that our Openreach contract is terminated. We have a short rolling contract after that time but we are encouraging all clients to migrate their services in good time rather than risk price hikes or service problems.
If you have WLR lines with us you should now be receiving a monthly update confirming your assets. If you are not receiving this please do get in touch.
Reminder: CLI Blocking
It’s been a few months now since we introduced the latest mandatory CLI blocks, that is any call that presented a UK presentation CLI but that did not originate in the UK. There are of course some exceptions and we dealt with those directly with impacted clients.
This change has gone smoothly and our monitoring suggests no legitimate calls are being inadvertently blocked. It is important however that we keep up the monitoring to both ensure legitimate calls are carried and just as importantly that other loop holes aren’t exploited.
We are still waiting on a consultation from Ofcom regarding the blocking of mobile CLIs, the biggest loop hole we know of today, but meanwhile our team here are constantly checking any unusual or unexpected patterns that our network reporting highlights – so if you get an email or call from the team to discuss you traffic in more detail, please do engage promptly as we will almost always block traffic if we have any doubts.
If you need help to check you are sending CLI in accordance with the latest regulations and guidance please download our guide here.
Reminder: Status Page
We are never complacent about our network but when problems impact we work hard on getting accurate information to clients as fast as possible. This is just a reminder that we also provide updates on our status page so recommend you bookmark this link in case you ever need it: http://magratheastatus.com/
Porting Update: Tactical Erroneous Transfer Process (TETP)
Erroneous transfers happen when a service has been incorrectly ceased or switched due to an error by the end user, retail provider or a data issue. This is different to a dispute or change of mind.
Erroneous transfers can cause major disruption to the user and are likely to occur more frequently as the process is sped up (e.g. by using One Touch Switch). To mitigate this the industry body OTA have put together a new process known as TETP.
To benefit from this process CPs need to sign up to a register, please be aware that this is a reciprocal process. We have contacted all of our clients who using our porting desk with the necessary information to help them understand more. Detailed information can be found via two key documents available on the OTA2 website. The Switching and Working Line Takeover publication which lists the key responsibilities of the Gaining CP and what the Losing CP should do if there is an issue and the actual TETP. Full details can be found here
Business Switching
On the 4th April TOTSCO launched their API specification for the Gaining Provider Led Business Process (GPLB) for the use of CPs and Managed Access Providers (MAP).
There is no regulatory obligation to use it and others independent parties (known as MAPs) are developing competing and complementary solutions. There are still a number of issues to overcome in our complex supply chain, whilst its simpler for those who operate in verticals, the issue re data sharing is still live. We attend the regular industry forums to ensure we remain up to date with this developing area but overall it is still early days to make firm decisions on the best way forward.
TOTSCo expect to go live early in 2026.
In other news TOTSCo are asking for input on the Charging Structure for OTS, 2026 and beyond. Responses can be submitted by Friday 16th May, and can be sent here.
Workshop Invitation: Number Portability – 12th June 2025 at 11:00
Whether you are new to porting or would just value a refresher we are offering clients an opportunity to attend a 60-minute online workshop with our porting expert Ashley Farr, without any cost. This workshop aims to help clients understand the porting process, explains how to use our Portal and follow our process, and what needs to happen when things don’t go to plan. So, if you have burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask or have new team members to your porting desk then you’re very welcome to our workshop. Please email support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk to reserve your space.
Events and Outings
After such a busy March, April brought some respite for us in terms of outings but there have been the usual flurry of online meetings to keep us all up to date with all that’s going on.
Coming up this month we have the CCUK Women in Telecoms Network Event on 22nd May. Vorboss are kindly hosting us and Magrathea are buying the drinks! Some of our team will be there and there is still space if you would like to come along. CCUK WiT is free to join and a great opportunity to network with women working across all sorts of roles at all levels. It is not exclusive to women though; this event is open to anyone who has an interest in ensuring we have a diverse and supportive workforce.
After that the next event currently in the diary is the Comreg Conference on 18th June. While we are in Dublin for that we are inviting any clients based in Ireland to join us for dinner the evening before – if we haven’t yet got in touch with you and you would like to join us, please do get in touch. Even if you aren’t based in Ireland but are attending the conference we would love to host you!
Again, looking ahead to June, on the 26th we have the CCUK Summer Forum and AGM. This is a really useful event for CCUK members to connect. This year it will include panel discussions on fraud and scams as well as apprenticeships and learning how they can help with attracting and retaining skilled people in our industry. It is kindly sponsored by Simwood, tickets are free to members and can be booked here. We look forward to seeing you there.
What’s on our minds….
Many of our clients will be aware that we suffered a serious outage on Friday 2nd May. Our efforts to truly understand the underlying cause and impact continued over the weekend. We continue our focus on network improvements and any new actions we have identified to enhance resilience will now be factored in as priority. Once again we share our sincere apologies for the disruption this has caused clients and their business operations.
Separately, as we begin the process of planning for our next business year, we have recently sent our annual client survey. The email should have arrived in your inbox last week – if you didn’t get a copy you can still participate here. Thank you!
As always here at Magrathea we appreciate your comments and feedback, if there is anything you would like to contact us about, please email info@magrathea-telecom.co.uk
Kind regards
Client Support, Magrathea
The information contained in this guidance is for your information only and is not intended to be relied on. It does not constitute legal professional advice, nor is it a substitute for you obtaining your own legal professional advice. Magrathea accepts no liability whatsoever for any errors, omissions or statements in this guidance or for any loss which may arise from your use of this guidance.