Until today, the regulator’s telephone universal service obligation (USO) – which ensures that a minimum set of phone services are available at an affordable price to people across the UK – included an obligation to support fax.
However, fax services have become increasingly outdated and the phone network that is used to deliver messages is also being upgraded. Once this upgrade is completed, fax services will no longer be guaranteed to work in the same way.
As a result, Ofcom has changed its rules so that the universal service providers – BT and KCOM (in the Hull area) – are no longer required to provide fax services under the USO. This comes two months after the regulator proposed removing these obligations.
Ofcom said this change does not mean that fax services will stop working immediately. The regulator did, however, advise remaining users of fax to look for alternatives ahead of their telephone networks being upgraded.