Britain’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) has fined the country’s largest telecommunications provider BT Group for failing to offer clear and concise information to customers when offering service contracts.
The £2.8 million (around U.S. $3.56 million) fine comes after Ofcom determined BT Group didn’t offer clear and comparable information when customers tried to take advantage of various service-related deals.
In mid-2022, regulators announced a new rule that requires telecoms to provide consumers and small business customers with important details about a service contract, including a summary of key terms, before customers sign up for service.
Ofcom regulators determined some BT Group subsidiaries — namely, wireless provider EE and triple-play service provider Plusnet — failed to provide the required information to around 1.1 million customers after the rule went into effect, affecting more than 1.3 million sales.
Ofcom contacted the affected customers late last year to inform them about the matter and present them with an opportunity to change or abandon their service contracts without incurring a charge.
Regulators determined BT Group was aware that the rule was being implemented months before it took effect, but didn’t attempt to bring its various subsidiary businesses into compliance. In some cases, Ofcom found BT Group deliberately ignored the rule, a strategy that Ofcom said was intended to help reign in certain compliance-related costs.
Ofcom says the fine imposed this week reflects “the seriousness of the breach.”
