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BT incurs regulator's wrath
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October 21, 1999: 8:24 a.m. ET
Dispute could cause license suspension for U.K.'s No. 1 telecom provider
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LONDON (CNNfn) - The U.K. telecom watchdog has threatened to suspend the license of British Telecommunications, Britain's biggest telecom service provider, if the company continues to hinder customers defecting to cheaper rivals.
Oftel, the regulator of the U.K. telecom industry, is within days of issuing a formal order, or official reprimand, to BT in a bid to get the company to comply with its demands. If the telecom giant still fails to satisfy the watchdog, Oftel could then suspend the company's license to operate.
Oftel initiated proceedings against BT in August after it received complaints from two so-called "systemless resellers" -- LocalTel and NextCall -- that new customers were experiencing severe delays in being transferred over to their services.
Under a plan called "Calls & Access," set up under Oftel's insistence, BT is forced to sell network capacity in bulk to rivals, who could then sell it on to residential users.
An Oftel spokeswoman confirmed to CNNfn.com Thursday that BT had until Oct. 23 to satisfy the watchdog that it would comply with its request, otherwise it would issue an official reprimand. "One of the options is to issue a final order, which would give BT an additional period to get its house in order with regards to Calls & Access," she said.
Oftel has no power to impose fines, and there is no set period within which BT would have to comply to a final order. But the watchdog confirmed that if it was still not satisfied, suspending the operator's license "is the ultimate sanction."
BT refused to comment on whether it would meet the October deadline, nor would it say why it has failed to process customer requests. "We are still involved in discussions, and it would be premature to discuss the matter at this stage," a spokesman told CNNfn.com.
Neither BT nor the watchdog would disclose the number of complaints from residential customers. Oftel, however, promised it would start "naming and shaming" companies in the "next few weeks in order for customers to be able to make a more informed choice," the spokeswoman said.
Some 150,000 of BT's 21 million customers have applied to have their accounts transferred to other telecom providers.
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