Universal Service Obligation (Telecoms)

Universal service in telecoms exists to stop essential communications services becoming available only where it is most profitable to provide them. Section 65 of the Communications Act 2003 requires that 'the Secretary of State must by order... set out the extent to which the things falling within subsection (2) must... be provided, made available or supplied throughout the United Kingdom', with subsection (2) identifying those things as 'electronic communications networks and electronic communications services' and associated facilities.

Under this framework, Ofcom designates universal service providers and sets the conditions they must meet, historically covering matters like access to a working telephone line and, more recently, a legal right to request a decent broadband connection. Because the obligation is set out by order under the Act rather than fixed permanently in the statute itself, the specific services covered — and the minimum standards required, such as broadband speed — can be, and have been, updated over time as what counts as a 'basic' service changes.