Since November 2009, BT (British Telecommunications plc) has introduced a new charging system regarding the mobile termination rates of calls to 0845 and 0870 number ranges.

Whilst BT has always had a termination charge for 0845 and 0870 numbers hosted on their network, the new introduced amendments have seen BT charge termination costs as a percentage of customers pricing as made by the mobile operators, on top of already set mobile termination rates.  This means an additional charge based on the average retail price by the mobile operators.

BT are able to charge what they believe to be suitable amounts to be able to recover termination costs, with charges being easy to implement and beneficial to end customers.

Mobile termination rates have therefore been unpredictable, leading to Ofcom receivng complaints by affected mobile operators, including Vodafone Limited, Telefonica O2 UK Limited, T-Mobile Limited, Orange Personal Communications Services Limited and Hutchison 3G UK Limited.

Ofcom have deamed the dispute viable for their intervention believing BT’s actions are not beneficial enough to end customers. Using Chapter 3 of Part 2 of the Communications Act, Ofcom have directed BT to pay the extended termination rates back to the mobile service providers.

For more information regarding the dispute and subsequent involvement by Ofcom, please see

www.ofcom.org.uk

The writer of this article accepts no liability for legislative content.