Open Communications

Open Communications is an initiative for the retail telecoms and pay TV markets enabling people and small businesses to share information about their services with third parties

Open Communications is a data portability initiative being explored by Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator. It would enable people and businesses to securely share data about their use of telecoms services, as held by their providers, with third parties of their choice. Similar to Open Energy initiatives, one consumer focussed application of such data sharing is supplier switching.

Financial considerations are currently the main aspect for many switching decisions, but telecoms data is rich with numerous aspects that consumers may actually find more relevant to their decisions. On the supplier side, these aspects include signal strength, carbon footprint, sourcing practices and privacy policy. On the consumer side, these aspects include living situation, location and commute. Any of these aspects to telecoms data, or some particular combination, may be just as important or more important to the consumer than cost when choosing a supplier, and which Open Communications initiatives would better allow to be factored in.

The telecommunications data spectrum shows the potential range of openness in this sector, from closed data about service quality at a granular level, through different types of shared data including personal mobile device use, to openly published data about UK home broadband performance.

As well as manual supplier switching based on recommendations, Open Communications could also allow for automated supplier switching. Data could be monitored in real time, analysed according to a user's registered interests, and, given their consent, used to inform algorithmic decisions about if and when to change supplier. This would require certain parts of the full supplier ecosystem to be harmonised, in the nature of Smart Data, but it is a possibility.

There are other potential uses of Open Communications beyond supplier switching. For the consumer, multiple accounts could more easily be aggregated and managed, also encompassing utility accounts via Open Energy initiatives. Prototype apps have even been developed to demonstrate how residents of shared accommodation can split access, responsibility and payments to their shared bills. Such schemes could be further developed, allowing for users to carry their telecoms and utility account information with them as they move from one shared accommodation to the next, which is by no means uncommon these days.

Through the ODI's research on Open APIs in the Telecoms Industry, future use cases of Open Communications were envisioned. Explore the map here.

For the supplier, Open Communications offers a range of benefits too. With integrated utilities information, there is firstly the possibility of combination deals between telecoms and utility companies, tailored to consumers. As well as this and other collaborative work, including with other telecoms companies for such things as network improvement, telecoms suppliers could also gain better insight into competitor data and use it to help themselves improve too.

Furthermore, Open Communications could help to drive other initiatives that aren't directly related to the telecoms interests of consumers or companies. For example, telecoms data from mobile networking inherently includes time dependent geospatial data, revealing commuting patterns and other travel behaviour. If given access to such data, eased by Smart Data practices, local governments would be able to improve town planning based on meaningful statistics, and monitor the results. A certain area may be promoted for pedestrianisation, for example, while another may benefit from an extra bus service at a certain time.

Although mostly speculative, none of the above is outside the realm of possibility, and is under active investigation and promotion. As part of the Innovate UK R&D Programme, in 2019 the ODI convened a workshop with industry representatives to generate use cases for consumers and providers, and to look at the potential benefits and risks of enabling people and businesses to share more information about their use of communications services. The workshop report represents the findings and some initial thinking in this space, including the potential to provide better products to consumers, and better insights to service providers, while acknowledging the risks of increasing access to data. It builds on our work from 2018 looking at open APIs in the telecoms sector.

The ODI workshop with Ofcom on potential use cases for Open Communications yielded data ecosystem maps showing how new services could be enabled

Also in 2019, a review of Smart Data and its place in UK industrial strategy proposed that innovation could indeed be driven in the telecoms sector via Open Communications practices. Further supportive findings were also published by Ofcom, based on responses to their Open Communications consultation which ran from August to November 2020.

To fully take advantage of these possibilities, the sector must address some key factors. Different factors have different levels of both ease and risk, each of which having their own considerations. The telecoms network involves multiple layers of hardware, software and services, and the extent to which any one aspect could be made more open needs to be reviewed before change can be made. Privacy and security are paramount, and users must feel confident that suppliers are keeping this at the forefront of any Smart Data developments if those developments are to continue to fruition.

It is recommended to build momentum by first concentrating on factors with greater ease and lower risk, and especially such combinations that have higher apparent benefit. Regulators must ensure adherence to GDPR, including appropriate data anonymisation where necessary, and implement safeguards that should be enforced throughout the industry. By a combination of mandate, reward and opportunity, suppliers would be incentivised to join initiatives and drive them further still.