Ofcom fines BT £6.3m for breaking rules in public sector contract
The UK’s telecoms regulator has fined BT £6.3m for breaking rules in a Northern Ireland public sector contract between 2017 and 2018.
Between April 2017 and March 2018, BT and Eir both bid for a public sector contract in Northern Ireland to provide shared data transfer services.
Ofcom has today concluded that BT’s network arm broke its rules, by failing to provide Eir with the same information about its Fibre to the Premises on Demand (FOD product) – including its suitability and cost – as it did to BT’s bid team.
BT’s network arm told Eir that FOD was not suitable and had “delivery limitations” while BT’s bid team was told it could be used for major network projects.
Under Ofcom rules, BT’s network arm must treat all its wholesale customers equally.
As a result the regulator has imposed a penalty of £6.3m, which includes a 30 per cent reduction “to reflect BT’s agreement to settle Ofcom’s investigation by admitting full liability.”
“BT’s network arm broke our rules by failing to treat a rival company and BT’s own bid team equally during the tender for a major public sector contract in Northern Ireland,” said Gaucho Rasmussen, Ofcom’s director of enforcement. “Our fine reflects how important these rules are, and how seriously we take compliance.”
A spokesperson for BT said: “We’ve cooperated with and accepted Ofcom’s findings and have already put measures in place to prevent this happening again.”
“Ofcom recognises that these errors weren’t deliberate and that we took a number of steps to comply with the regulatory obligations. Based on Ofcom’s decision, we don’t believe this impacted the tender outcome.”