Communications watchdog Ofcom has raised the prospect of auctioning off the public service licences currently held by ITV and Channel 5.

The mobile phone giant EverythingEverywhere, owner of T-Mobile and Orange, has reported a jump in the number of more profitable contract customers by 151,000 in the first three months of the year.

The media mogul's evidence to the Leveson inquiry on his move for the TV company showed reform is vital if future takeovers are to get a fair hearing

The Ofcom inquiry has been ratcheted up from a 'monitoring phase' to a far more serious 'evidence-gathering phase'

The broadcasting watchdog, Ofcom, is to investigate Sky News’s admission that it broke the law by hacking into the email account of the “canoe man” who faked his own death.

HomeServe faced more damning evidence over its call centres yesterday when the communications regulator, Ofcom, fined the home insurance company £750,000 for making 50,000 silent or abandoned calls to UK households in just two months.

Calls to 0800 numbers could be free from mobiles as part of attempts to fight consumer confusion about costs.

Talk about indecent haste. Ofcom had barely issued its press release giving Royal Mail the green light to stamp all over its customers before the deed was done. With newly acquired power to set prices in its hands, the soon-to-be-privatised company said that from the end of April the price of a first-class stamp will rise by 30 per cent to 60p, while second-class stamps will increase by 39 per cent to 50p.

The cost of posting letters is to increase to record levels after the Royal Mail announced a 14p increase in the cost of first and second-class stamps to 60p and 50p.

What could the future hold for BSkyB if News Corp is forced to sell down its stake? That was the poser being mulled over in the Square Mile yesterday following a step-up in pressure on the Murdochs' control of the satellite broadcaster.

Mogul under scrutiny in 'fit and proper' test

The usual complaint about the bureaucrats of Brussels is that they regulate too much and interfere too much in the free market. But Brussels is too liberal for some parents anxious about what their children are watching. Because we are in the EU, the UK cannot prevent certain soft-porn stations from offering their tacky output on Freeview television. Any station that has a licence from any EU regulatory authority is entitled to broadcast throughout the EU, and it would be illegal to bar them. Ofcom, the British regulator, is trying to do what it can. Yesterday it announced it had approached Dutch counterparts, who are responsible for allowing Babestation and Smile TV to infest our screens, requesting that they think again.

Telecoms watchdog Ofcom has set out an action plan to tackle the issue of "bill shock" where mobile phone customers on contracts are surprised by unexpected costs in their bills.