Freeserve loses Oftel dispute

Freeserve has lost out again in its long-running dispute with Oftel over claims that BT's broadband pricing was unfair. The battle began in March 2002 when Freeserve lodged a complaint with Oftel over BT Openworld's pricing for its consumer broadband product. This was dismissed by Oftel in May 2002. Freeserve appealed to the Competition Appeal Tribunal in September 2002 and in April 2003 the court ruled Oftel had failed to give a sufficient explanation of how it had reached its decision. Yesterday Oftel concluded that its earlier ruling was correct and that there was no evidence of anti-competitive behaviour. Peter Waller, deputy director general of telecommunications, said: "Oftel has carried out a thorough reinvestigation, and found no evidence to support Freeserve's allegation." BT said it welcomed Oftel's decision to "throw out Freeserve's spurious claims" but said it was a shame that it "has taken over eighteen months to reach this point". A spokesman for BT said: "Perhaps Freeserve will be a little less quick to complain and a bit more willing to acknowledge the fact that the UK now has the most competitive broadband sector in the world." In a statement Freeserve said it would consider "whether to appeal Oftel's decision to the Competition Appeal Tribunal" once it has "had a chance to review the decision in detail". It is a second blow for Freeserve this month. At the start of the November the ISP lost its long-running campaign to force AOL to pay VAT in the UK. However, this is unlikely to deter Freeserve. Earlier this year, the ISP told Web User that it would continue to use "every weapon available to" it to ensure that its "position as the UK's leading ISP is maintained". David Melville, Freeserve general counsel, said: "We will continue to challenge on every front available to us - including a much strengthened competition law regime in order to make sure we can deliver a profitable service to our members, at lowest cost."