Supreme Court ruling in favour of BT ends dispute over 08 charges
BT was boosted yesterday by winning a court ruling over the price it is able to charge mobile operators for connecting calls to fixed-line 08 numbers.
The Supreme Court found in favour of BT’s right to set prices for termination charges for mobile calls to non-geographic 08 numbers, bringing to a conclusion years of disputes over the issue.
The ruling could lead to a windfall worth tens of millions of pounds for BT, as it said it would seek to recover years of back-dated charges from mobile companies.
The conflict dates back to BT’s introduction of ladder pricing in 2009, initially for 0800 numbers but later extended to 0845 and 0870 numbers, with mobile operators Telefonica, EE, Vodafone and Hutchinson disputing the charges.
A EE spokesperson said: “BT’s ladder charges are ultimately harmful to consumers and investment in mobile coverage.”
However a BT spokesperson said “[s]uch pricing was designed to benefit UK consumers by incentivising the mobile operators to lower their retail prices.”