BT handed massive fine over ethernet breach

The penalty is a result of an investigation by Ofcom into BT’s network arm Openreach, launched in November 2015. This found that between January 2013 and December 2014 BT misused the terms of its contracts to reduce compensation payments owed to other telecoms providers for failing to deliver ethernet services on time’.

Ofcom's Riverside House headquarters

Ofcom investigations director Gaucho Rasmussen said: “These high-speed [ethernet] lines are a vital part of this country’s digital backbone. Millions of people rely on BT’s network for the phone and broadband services they use every day.

“We found BT broke our rules by failing to pay other telecoms companies proper compensation when these services were not provided on time. The size of our fine reflects how important these rules are to protect competition and, ultimately, consumers and businesses. Our message is clear – we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour.”

According to Ofcom, the enforcement action was taken because “BT breached rules that address the company’s ‘significant market power’”. This market power, said the regulator, comes from other telecoms companies’ reliance on access to BT’s network to provide services to their customers.