Oftel slaps anti-competitive investigation on BT
The recent tough stance Oftel is adopting with BT gets tougher Tuesday as it launches an investigation into the telco's proposed Surf Together service.
The watchdog intends to investigate whether BT is undermining competition in its rollout of packaged unmetered voice and data calls. The telco had planned to roll out the service on 1 December, describing it as its most radical pricing overhaul ever. Under the plans customers would be able to get unlimited evening and weekend Internet and local voice calls for a monthly fee of £19.99.
Oftel is questioning whether this is an abuse of market position by the telco. BT confesses it is "bemused" by Oftel's decision. "We strongly resist the suggestion that we are acting anti-competitively: all we're trying to give our customers is excellent value for money," said BT chief executive Sir Peter Bonfield in a statement.
Full story and exclusive interview with Oftel director general David Edmonds to follow
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