# BT Fined £42 Million by Ofcom after Openreach delayed its customers

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/bt-fined-42-million-ofcom-openreach-delayed-customers/412726137
- Published: 2017-03-27T07:33:43+01:00
- Author: Giles Arbor

**[BT Group PLC](https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/ftse-company/bt-group-plc/bt-a.l)**(
LON:BT.A) announced today that it has acknowledged the findings of Ofcom’s investigation
into the historical use of ‘Deemed Consent’ by its Openreach business.

Deemed Consent is an agreed process between Openreach and its Communications Provider
customers. It allows Openreach to halt the installation and reschedule the delivery
date for providing dedicated business services (known as Ethernet) in a number of
specific circumstances beyond its control.

Ofcom found that Openreach had breached its contractual and regulatory obligations
by inadequately and retrospectively applying Deemed Consent between January 2013
and December 2014.

Ofcom also found that Openreach failed to compensate Communications Providers fully
after successful appeals against the application of Deemed Consent over the period
October 2013 to August 2016 – and Openreach has already compensated Communications
Providers in full for this particular failing, which amounted to less than £1 million.

As a result of the findings, Openreach has agreed to compensate Communications Providers
outside of BT in full and Ofcom has imposed a fine of £42 million, reflecting the
seriousness of the failings. This includes a 30 per cent maximum discount for BT
admitting its liabilities and agreeing to compensate the affected Communications
Providers in full. The precise amount of these compensation payments will result
from discussions with the affected Communications Providers outside of BT, but is
currently estimated at approximately £300 million.

The regulatory fine and associated compensation payments will be treated as a specific
item charge. BT’s trading outlook for both 2016/17 and 2017/18 is unchanged.

Ofcom has additionally fined BT £300,000 for failure to provide accurate and complete
information under the Communications Act 2003. BT does not agree with all elements
of this particular decision, but has decided to accept it in the interests of reaching
a swift and final resolution. BT agrees with the importance of providing accurate
and complete information in response to Ofcom’s information requests, and that this
is central to the integrity of the UK’s regulatory regime.

> **Clive Selley, Openreach CEO, said:** “We apologise wholeheartedly for the mistakes
> Openreach made in the past when processing orders for a number of high-speed business
> connections.
> “This shouldn’t have happened and we fully accept Ofcom’s findings.
> “Since I became CEO of Openreach in February 2016, we have monitored this area
> very closely, we have made improvements to how we process and deliver such connections,
> and we will make sure the same mistakes aren’t repeated in future.
> “This issue is unrepresentative of the vast majority of work conducted by Openreach
> and we are committed to delivering outstanding service for our customers.”
> **Gavin Patterson, BT Group Plc Chief Executive said:** “The investigation into
> historical Deemed Consent practices at Openreach revealed we fell short of the
> high standards we expect in serving our Communications Provider customers.
> “We take this issue very seriously and we have put in place measures, controls
> and people to prevent it happening again.
> “My management team and I are determined that BT applies the highest standards
> when serving our customers.”

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