Ofcom has opened a wide-ranging consultation on the UK mobile sector, in order to prepare the industry for “a second mobile revolution, bringing together the ease and portability of mobile communications and the flexibility of the internet”.

The regulator’s mobile assessor David Stewart, on the consultation’s blog, said the UK had already “gone mobile”: “The second big shift is just beginning: the internet is going mobile (and) could drive a further wave of market change. So, a good time to take stock.” He explains the rationale in this video.

Ofcom wants new regulation to take account of the blurring of mobile and fixed-line telecoms, to redistribute inclusive minutes and SMS to PAYG customers and to make mobile internet access “as open and flexible as today’s fixed internet”. The outcome will likely involve de-regulation as much as any new rules.