Customers having problems
with their broadband service
will be automatically
compensated under proposals
outlined by Ofcom.
The regulator said that
broadband, landline and
mobile customers wouldn’t
need to do anything to
receive the refund from their
providers when there is “a
loss or reduction of service”.
Ofcom announced the plans
in February as part of its
Strategic Review of Digital
Communications (www.
snipca.com/19840), in which
it also said that BT must open
up its Openreach network
to rival ISPs.
This should lead to falling
broadband prices, because
other companies such as
TalkTalk and Sky will be able
to use the tunnels and
telegraph poles that make up
the Openreach infrastructure,
leading to more competition.
Ofcom stopped short of
splitting BT from Openreach
– which rival ISPs had called
for – but said that Openreach
will be “subject to tougher,
minimum requirements to
repair faults and install new
lines more quickly”.
This move follows
complaints from other ISPs
that Openreach is too slow to
act when fixing customers’
broadband problems.
Ofcom will also help
customers pick the best
service available by publishing
“performance tables” on a
range of measures. These will
first appear later this year
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