Written question asked by Lord Monson (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Jones of Birmingham (Other (affiliation)) on Wednesday, 24 October 2007.

Telecommunications: Charging

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will draw the attention of the Office of Fair Trading to the charging by telecommunications companies with minimal notice or consultation of a payment fee on telephone bills not paid by direct debit plus a late payment fee on bills which are not settled within eight days of receipt of the bill by the customer.

Answer: The independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), announced on 6 June that it would carry out a full review of communications providers' additional charges. Ofcom expects to announce the conclusions of its review in the autumn and progress may be monitored on its website www.ofcom.org.uk. The review covers charges for non-direct debit payments as well as other additional charges including late payment, restoration of service and early termination fees. It also covers fixed and mobile operators and pay TV services. Ofcom is looking at the nature and level of charges levied by communications providers and how well signposted and transparent such charges are. It is investigating how far consumers are aware of additional charges, whether they are able and willing to shop around on the basis of core prices and additional charges rather than just core prices, and whether there are certain groups of consumers who are unable to do this and therefore may be disadvantaged. On investigating this issue it became clear that it would be wrong to look at BT in isolation. More than 40 per cent of homes are provided with telephony services by operators other than BT, and the differentials for payment by non-direct debit range from no extra charge to £15 a quarter. Some providers provide no payment option other than direct debit.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 5660; 695 c121WA
Session: 2006-07
Subjects: Billing Fees and charges Ofcom Telecommunications Unfair practices Payment methods
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk