Ofcom Ends BT Price Controls

LONDON -- Today, 22 years after retail price controls were first imposed to limit increases in the price of line rental and calls for BT customers, Ofcom announced their removal.

This significant deregulation follows both the conclusion of Ofcom’s Strategic Review of Telecommunications in September 2005 and a specific public consultation on the removal of retail price controls begun in March 2006.

The removal of retail price controls is enabled by – and reflects – the rapid growth of competition and continued reductions in the cost of phone services for customers. More than 10.7 million households and small businesses now use providers other than BT Group plc for their phone calls – including more than 4.6 million cable customers – and the UK has some of the cheapest phone costs in the world.

Ofcom Chief Executive Stephen Carter said: “The success of regulation is rarely measured by the ability to remove it. This is a good example of a market now functioning well.”

He added: “This deregulation is accompanied by appropriate and specific protections for vulnerable groups.”

Ofcom