Ed Richards said the UK has one of the most competitive communications markets in the world but consumers cannot take full advantage of the choice available due to difficulties with changing provider.

Speaking at a Consumers and Citizens in the Communications Sector event, Richards called on industry “to transform switching; to remove the inconvenience, delays and uncertainty that currently can bedevil consumers when trying to change their provider”.

He also challenged providers to help deliver “a system that enables consumers to take advantage of the increasing competition and innovation available”.

The speech follows Ofcom’s announcement in August of new measures to help consumers change landline and broadband providers with greater ease, confidence and convenience.

Ofcom’s decision means that complex switching processes currently in operation on BT’s Openreach network will be simplified to a single process where the ‘gaining’ provider leads the transfer on behalf of the consumer.

Richards described this initial phase of work to improve the switching experience for consumers as “a step in the right direction”, but called for further action from industry to work with Ofcom “to remove the remaining barriers to switching”.

He said this should include looking at issues for consumers switching between bundles, and between different networks.

Richards concluded by saying that removing the remaining barriers to switching is essential in ensuring that the communications sector “continues to deliver real improvement in value for money during a time when the cost of living is so important for millions of people across the UK and Europe”.