BT fined a record £42m over high-speed line delays

BT HAS been hit with a record £42 million fine by the telecoms watchdog and is facing paying compensation costs to rivals of £300m over delayed high-speed cable installations.

Ofcom said BT’s Openreach infrastructure arm committed a “serious breach” of its rules for reducing payments owed to other providers such as Vodafone.

The telecoms giant was supposed to pay compensation after failing to deliver high-speed lines to the rival companies in adequate time.

The communications regulator has rules to curb BT’s “significant market power” to ensure competitiveness, including an obligation to provide the so-called Ethernet cables within 30 days.

The huge sum is the largest fine issued against a telecoms provider by Ofcom and almost 10 times larger than the previous record, a £4.6m penalty against Vodafone last year.

Openreach said it “apologised wholeheartedly” over the incident.

Gaucho Rasmussen, Ofcom’s investigations director, said: “These high-speed 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.

“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.”

Many providers are dependant on BT’s vast network to deliver services such as broadband to customers. Ethernet lines are often used by large businesses to ensure high speed internet connection.