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How to find documents and information on the Ofcom website

There are several different ways to find what you are looking for on our website. We have listed the options below and also provided example scenarios which may assist you.

Navigate the site by section

Every page on our site has links to the main sectors Ofcom regulates where information is grouped together by type, theme and/or a particular issue:

Telecoms | TV | Radio | Spectrum

We also keep all Consultations and Research in one area with news releases, speeches and presentations listed under Media and Analysts.

Look through the latest documents published

We list the 3 most recent news releases on the Ofcom homepage. You can also view all our latest high profile publications by date of publication date, with most recent listed first.

If you know the month and/or year when a document was published this is a good place to filter our published documents. You can also filter by type of publication (Consultation, Statement, etc.) and the industry sector the document relates to.

Please note that not all Ofcom publications or changes to the website will be displayed on this list - you may need to use the keyword search or browse to the related section of the site. If you want to stay up to date with Ofcom publications register for our email notifications or subscribe to our RSS feeds.

Look through the A-Z list of documents

The A to Z document list displays all our high profile publications sorted by the title, based on the first letter of the title. This is a good way to search if you are certain of the full title.

It’s again possible to filter this A to Z listing by publication type and sector if you want to narrow down the number of matching publications.

Search the site using Google

Use the search box at the top right of the Ofcom website to perform a keyword search that will find matching pages and documents.

Initially this will return all possible matches from across the main Ofcom website, sorted in date order with most recent publications at the top of the list. You can choose to sort these results 'by relevance' to change the order of priority given to matches.

To improve keyword search we have created ‘collections’ which match the main areas of the Ofcom site - use the drop down menu to the left of the 'Search' button to select a particular sector or publication type and press search again to narrow your set of results. This search will also allow you to find information stored in the Legacy Regulator Archives, the content published by the former communications regulators that existed prior to Ofcom’s formation in 2003.

We have also now created a custom Google search engine that uses the public search method to display matching results from just the Ofcom website. A link on the Ofcom search results page will allow you to perform your search directly. Read our tips on keyword search for more information and advice or refer to the Google ‘manual’.

Example scenarios - how to find the Ofcom information you want

1. I read a telecoms research report in summer 2007 but can’t remember the title:

Go to our list of latest publications and select the following filters: publication type is Research, sector is Telecoms. Now change the month to June and the year to 2007, then press Filter results.

There are no documents listed so change the month to July and filter again - you will now get 3 reports listed. Switching to August will list two documents and here you spot the data tables you want to read again.

Tip: At the top of this report there are ‘breadcrumbs’ - text links that identify where in the site structure this report lives. Clicking up one level in the path to ‘Telecoms Data Tables’ will now display all instances of this report for you to compare and bookmark for future reference.

2. I want to read a speech made by Stephen Carter at the RTS event in 2006. What is the best way to find this?

There are three possible ways to find this information:

Do a keyword Google search for ‘stephen carter rts 2006’ - the speech appears at the top of the results
Use our latest documents filter selecting ‘Speech/presentation’ for the type of publication, change month to ‘All’ and year to ‘2006’. This lists 9 possible matches you can browse to find the correct event.
Use our A to Z listing and click on R to find possible matches for RTS. Filter this list by publication type ‘Speech’ to narrow the results. Note - this list assumes the speech title or web page starts with letter R and this method should be used last.

3. I want to see all adjudications by the Ofcom Content Sanctions Committee

Again there are several possible routes to finding this content on the Ofcom website:

Navigate to the TV section of our site and Committee Adjudications are listed on the second level page under Ofcom Broadcast Bulletins.
If you were originally unsure what sector these adjudications covered you could try a keyword search for ‘Ofcom Content Sanctions Committee’ and then browse through to the Committee page which links to a lists all adjudications.
Lastly, if you were aware all adjudications were published in PDF format, you could use our advanced Google search on the find a document page to refine the keyword matches to only show PDF files using the File Format filter. Read our tips on keyword search for more information and advice or refer to the Google ‘manual’.

How to find documents and information on the Ofcom website