Organisations currently pay a licence fee to access the database, which is valued at between £500m and £900m.
ODI chief Gavin Starks said the decison “flies in the face of the UK’s commitments [to open data]. Releasing core country data assets such as this is a basic requirement.”
Nigel Shadbolt, chairman of the ODI, said Ofcom, which governs licensing and pricing policy for the PAF, must now ensure that the data is made “available under an Open Licence and at marginal cost”.