Deloitte Internet Regulation Updater

On 26 June 2025 Ofcom published new draft guidance providing further detail on how providers should approach calculating their Qualifying Worldwide Revenue (QWR), which determines both fees payable to Ofcom and maximum penalties that can be levied under the Online Safety Act (OSA).  This draft guidance is now under consultation until 10 September 2025.

As part of its regulatory enforcement powers under the OSA, Ofcom has the power to charge regulated companies to cover the costs of its regulation. Much of Ofcom’s funding comes from fees paid by regulated companies. QWR is the basis for calculating the amount of fees due to Ofcom from service providers.

In its recent draft guidance Ofcom outlines seven guiding principles for QWR calculations. Ofcom doesn't prioritise these principles - so companies will need to think about how they balance these in their approach.

Summary of Ofcom’s guiding principles for calculating QWR

Another key element of the guidance is how providers should consider apportioning revenue to relevant parts of regulated services for the purposes of calculating QWR. This is crucial as providers may need to consider the extent to which regulated online content drives their overall service revenues, e.g. the extent to which user-to-user features of an overall non-user-to-user service drive overall value and contribute to subscription or advertisement revenue. 

This apportionment can have a significant impact on the ultimate calculation of QWR. To guide decisions on apportionment methodologies, Ofcom has set out four broad categories of apportionment methods: (i) usage-based; (ii) advertising-based; (iii) cost-based; and (iv) based on existing apportionments - these are broadly ordered in terms of suitability, but subject to proportionality and the provider’s judgement of which are most appropriate for their service and submission.

The draft guidance helps to provide more clarity on how Ofcom expects service providers to approach the calculation of QWR. However, ultimately it will be the responsibility of companies to develop and demonstrate that their approach is 'just and reasonable.' 

The consultation on the draft QWR guidance is open for responses until 10 September 2025. We expect a further consultation on draft Notification guidance later in Q3 2025. From there it is anticipated that the final QWR and Notification guidance will be released in Q4 2025. We expect that online services will need to calculate and notify their QWR to Ofcom by Q2 2026, with fees due in Q3 2026.

Unsure where to start? Read Deloitte's EMEA Centre for Regulatory Strategy and Digital Regulation team's article about how companies can go about developing their approach and preparing for calculating QWR.

Your contacts

If you would like to speak to the multi-disciplinary Deloitte team supporting clients on complying with fast-paced global digital regulations, please contact: 

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Nick Seeber, Global Digital Regulation Lead Partner

Laurie Gilchrist, Digital Regulation Director, Compliance

Hilary Atherton, Digital Regulation Director, Legal 

Ahmed Hamdy, Digital Regulation Director, Economist

Nick Evans, Digital Regulation Senior Manager, Strategy

Piyush Goraniya, Digital Regulation Senior Associate, Legal

Tom Hancocks, Digital Regulation Associate, Legal