BT hit with £342m fines, compensation
LONDON: BT Group Plc will pay about £342 million (RM1.89 billion) in fines and compensation after the company failed to adequately reimburse other providers for delays installing high-speed broadband cables.
United Kingdom communications regulator Ofcom ordered BT to pay a record £42 million fine for reducing compensation to other companies that rely on its network when it didn’t deliver business ethernet services on time, it said on Sunday.
BT will also pay about £300 million as compensation to the other carriers, though the amount may still change.
The rebuke is another blow to BT over its network division Openreach, which the company agreed to legally separate this month, as the regulator seeks greater independence and more spending on full-fiber broadband.
The penalty is the largest issued by the regulator, topping a £3.7 million fine of Vodafone last year for poor customer service arising from an overhaul of its billing system. Bloomberg