Ofcom, the communications regulator, produced nearly 1,000 policy documents this year, amounting to almost four every working day of 2006, The Times has learnt.

The deluge of information ranged from the regulator’s 294-page annual review of the entire communications market to the one-page statement setting out the inquiry into BSkyB’s 17.9 per cent shareholding in ITV. It includes 207 policy consultations — nearly two a week — of which the largest typically were supported by a further four working papers and technical documents to ensure that every interested party had a chance to participate in its decision- making.

In addition, Ofcom issued 297 shorter regulatory bulletins and regulatory statements, the last of which marked Ofcom’s actual decisions, plus a further 76 standalone research papers. They take the total to about 980, even before a further 145 news releases are taken into consideration.

The figure, released by Ofcom itself, emerged on the day that the regulator celebrated its third birthday. A “super-regulator”, created from five organisations, it covers the £50 billion broadcast and telecommunications industries.

One of Ofcom’s mantras is to behave as a “light-touch regulator”, but seasoned corporate affairs executives say that the sheer volume of consultations is far greater than was the case in the era of the Independent Television Commission, or Oftel.

Few companies regulated by Ofcom want to comment publicly on the subject, arguing that it is not helpful to criticise the organisation. Despite the quantity of material, it remains largely respected in the industries in which it operates.

A source at one of the largest companies regulated by Ofcom said simply: “Ofcom’s light touch makes for hard reading.” Elsewhere, another head of corporate affairs was spending the period between Christmas and the new year in the office to ensure that they kept up with consultation requirements.

A spokesman for O2, the mobile phone group owned by Telefónica, of Spain, said that although Ofcom “was an improvement on Oftel”, there “remains too much regulatory activity and too much bureaucracy, even though all agree that there is a need for a regulator”.

Pride of place among Ofcom’s publications is Communications: The Next Decade, a 324-page hardback tome. It is notionally priced at £25, but was given away at a conference, organised by Ofcom for regulators across Europe, held in London last month. Ofcom defends its policy of detailed consultation, arguing that it needs to adopt an “evidence-based approach”. In the past Lord Currie, its chairman, has spoken of the dangers of “regulation on the cheap”, where a poorly resourced organisation simply gets it wrong.

Paper chase

145 news releases

92 major policy consultations

115 smaller technical notifications/consultations

76 stand-alone research documents

217 regulatory bulletins, licensing documents and codes

80 regulatory statements

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