Ofcom hits BT with £70k broadband fine

Ofcom has slapped BT with a £70,000 fine after the telecoms giant failed to provide pricing information needed for the regulator’s broadband and home phone review.

BT apparently held back the cost of some products not once but twice after Ofcom asked for prices in February and June last year.

The two industry products in question were BT’s Fibre Broadband Boost and Superfast Recharge.

ISPs like Sky and TalkTalk buy these services to jack up the broadband speed their customers can reach, and to improve the reliability of the fibre connections they sell.

More: Ofcom fine BT record £42 million for broadband delays

BT broadband has had a fraught time of late, the split with its engineering division Openreach last year the start of a mound of problems.

In a statement Ofcom said: “When BT responded to these information requests, it failed to state that the prices for the products were different on a Saturday to those it charged on weekdays.

“It also provided the discounted price for one of these products, rather than the contracted price.

“These mistakes came to light when BT provided pricing information to Ofcom in subsequent submissions that conflicted with the figures it had originally supplied to us.”

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So not only did BT get the prices wrong, they failed to tell the regulator that they charge different prices for things depending on which day of the week it is.

The £70,000 fine was reportedly cut by 30% as BT admitted fault and agreed to pay early.

And BT wanted the contract to bring 10Mbps broadband to the entire country with the Universal Service Obligation.

If it can’t be trusted to tell Ofcom the right prices it charges the other ISPs for broadband access…