BT wins appeal against mobile phone companies on 0800, 0845 and 0870 charges

It was reported on Monday that BT could be set to receive a very large sum of money after taking on and beating mobile phone operators over non-geographic number termination rate charges.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled that BT could charge more to mobile networks for connecting non-geographic numbers (NGNs). This includes freephone 0800 numbers, lo-call 0845 numbers and 0870 numbers.

Previously, OFCOM had decided that BT could not raise the amount that it charged O2, 3, Vodaphone and Everything Everywhere (the Orange and T-Mobile joint venture). These firms all charge users more than 8p per minute to use 0845, 0800 and 0870 numbers. BT had appealed this decision, and the tribunal upheld this appeal.

In a ruling that could be worth tens of millions of pounds to the telecoms giant, the Competition Appeals Tribunal ruled that not only could BT charge these mobile operators more, but that they could also recover some charges retrospectively, which were reported in some newspapers to be around £19million from the second quarter of last year. OFCOM has not yet decided how far back these payments should go.

Unless the mobile phone operators lower their rates to their customers to below 8.5p per minute, BT will now be able to charge them higher rates.  The ruling also means that the more mobile providers charge their customers for a freephone 0800 number or 0845 telephone number, the more they must pay to BT. There will therefore be an incentive for mobile providers to lower their tariffs to below 8.5p per minute for 0800 and 0845 numbers.

Mobile providers are said to be considering appealing against the appeal. 

Commenting on the ruling, David Clarke, Director of leading telecoms company DBS said "Obviously we are all still waiting to see what the final outcome of all of this is going to be, but anything which reduces the amount that mobile phone users have to pay to dial and 0800 or 0845 number can only be a good thing. Lower cost calls will encourage more people to phone businesses, thus encouraging more queries and generating more trade, which is what is needed right now. We will be monitoring this with great interest".