BT Fined GBP42 Million Over Openreach Failings
March 27 2017 - 2:10AM
Dow Jones News
LONDON-- The U.K.'s communications regulator fined U.K.
telecommunications company BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) 42 million pounds
($52.5 million) over contract and regulatory breaches by its
infrastructure business Openreach.
Ofcom found Openreach, which provides cable infrastructure for
BT and other telecommunications companies, inadequately applied a
process allowing it to halt the installation and reschedule
delivery date of some services to its customers between 2013 and
2016.
It also found Openreach failed to compensate customers fully
after they successfully appealed against Openreach's application of
the process, between 2013 and 2016.
BT said Sunday that it acknowledges Ofcom's findings and
apologized for the mistakes.
The fine includes a 30% discount because BT admitted liability
and agreed to compensate the affected customers. Compensation
payments are currently estimated at GBP300 million BT said.
Ofcom also fined BT GBP300,000 for failure to provide accurate
and complete information under the Communications Act 2003. BT said
it does not wholly agree with this decision but agreed to accept it
to reach a fast resolution.
"We apologize wholeheartedly for the mistakes Openreach made in
the past when processing orders for a number of high-speed business
connections," said Openreach chief executive Clive Selley.
Earlier this month BT reached an agreement with Ofcom that will
see its infrastructure division, Openreach, becoming a legally
separate company with its own board and management.
-Write to Rory Gallivan at rory.gallivan@wsj.com; Twitter:
@RoryGallivan
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 27, 2017 01:55 ET (05:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
BT (NYSE:BT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
BT (NYSE:BT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024