Ofcom response to the CMA’s super-complaint report

19 Dec 2018 03:01 PM

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s Consumer Group Director yesterday responded to the CMA’s super-complaint report.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s Consumer Group Director, yesterday said: 

“We welcome the CMA’s report, which supports our existing work to protect customers, including our reviews of mobile handset charges and broadband prices, and our plans to require companies to tell people about the best tariffs available when their deal is ending.”

Ofcom’s existing work to ensure a better deal for telecoms customers includes:

• Reviewing how mobile operators charge their customers for handsets when these are bundled with airtime.
• Reviewing broadband companies’ pricing practices, examining why some customers pay more than others.
• Plans for broadband, mobile, landline and pay-TV companies to tell customers about their best available deal when their contracts are coming to an end, and every year after that if they don’t change their deal.
• A major new information campaign and website, Boost Your Broadband, to help people get faster broadband and save money.
• These measures support Ofcom’s work to protect people from high prices. For example, we recently announced a cap on prices for 118 directory enquiry numbers, meaning that customers will pay £3.65 for a 90-second call, down from £20 for some providers. Also, BT customers who have only a landline telephone – without any broadband – saw their monthly phone bill cut by £7 earlier this year, following an intervention by Ofcom, saving customers £85 a year.