Ofcom fines O2 £150k for ‘inaccurate and incomplete information’
Ofcom has today fined O2 £150,000 for failing to provide complete and accurate information to during an investigation into the company’s billing issues.
Earlier this year, the watchdog fined O2 £10.5m for overcharging thousands of its customers.
According to Ofcom, between 2011 and 2019, an error in the way O2 calculated these final bills meant many customers were being billed for some charges twice.
As part of Ofcom’s investigation, O2 was requested to send the regulator information regarding the progress after its fine.
However, the telecoms firm provided “incorrect and incomplete responses,” which caused Ofcom’s investigation to take “longer to complete than necessary”.
In a statement this morning, Ofcom said: “This evidence is vital to our decision-making, and so it is essential that companies respond by the deadline, with accurate and complete information. If companies fail to do this, they face action from Ofcom.”
O2 has a history of contraventions in this area, and “demonstrated a level of carelessness in responding to our information requests”, according to Ofcom.
In response, Ofcom has fined £150,000 for this breach, and the penalty includes a 25 per cent reduction from the penalty Ofcom would otherwise have imposed, as a result of O2 accepting liability and entering into a settlement.
The watchdog have also ordered O2 to review its processes and systems for responding to information requests.
Ofcom stated: “We regularly make statutory requests for information from companies as part of our work to protect consumers. This evidence is vital to our decision-making, and so it is essential that companies respond by the deadline, with accurate and complete information. If companies fail to do this, they face action from Ofcom.”
A spokesperson for O2 said: “We responded in good faith to Ofcom’s information requests on this complex matter, which they have accepted. We will undertake a review of our internal governance to ensure we have suitable processes and systems in place to respond to any future information requests.”
The telecoms giant spokesperson emphasised the complexity of the case, and the requirement of gathering third party data. Moreover, it said Ofcom opened this investigation in December 2019, relating to the billing issue, and by the time of the procedural investigation, the root issue itself had been fixed proactively by O2.
More to follow