back to article BT rebuked for attributing some EE acquisition costs to 'all UK lines of business'

Telecoms giant BT has been rebuked by the UK's industry regulator for attributing some of the "acquisition costs" associated with its takeover of EE to all of its UK business divisions, including Openreach. Ofcom said it was "inappropriate" for two charges, totalling £1.7 million, to be attributed to "all UK lines of business …

  1. msknight

    And they want us to trust them? Hell no! ... mind you, the recently departed was a banker, wasn't he? So should we be surprised that the books seem to be a little on the warm side?

  2. Mystic Megabyte
    Unhappy

    Sport

    No doubt that the increased cost of phone calls is due to BT's sporting content of which I have no interest in. BT is not my ISP, whichever one I choose still has to pay BT Wholesale.

    What a scam!

  3. Vince

    It isn't a surprise to anyone else. Whether it appears on books or not, it's quite clear that Openreach is not as "separate" as it should be.

    From accidental technology developments that just happen to end up on the wrong shared infrastructure to acquisition costs for EE, it's all being muddied quite obviously.

    Still, at least Ofcom won't be fooled.... forever... just long enough for it to no longer matter. As always.

  4. Oli 1

    I would be more able to stomach this crap from BT if they actually offered some sort of decent service, but their offerings are usually chronic.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "opportunities for further deregulation"

    How can there be further opportunities for deregulation when there's plainly no effective regulation at the moment, and hasn't been for years. Happy to be proved wrong if someone can quote an example or two where the regulator has made a real difference. Over to you.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "opportunities for further deregulation"

      Happy to be proved wrong if someone can quote an example or two where the regulator has made a real difference.

      Well OFCOM introduced competition in director enquiries some years back, and the cost soared to five times that of a call to directory enquiries in Germany. That made a real difference.

      And this year OFCOM forced mobile companies to clarify calling charges to non-geographic numbers, as a result of which all the mobile operators put up the total charges for non-geographic calls by between 20 and 90%. That made a real difference.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "opportunities for further deregulation"

        Shouldn't it be "opportunities for further degradation" (Yes, it CAN get worse, but not much)

  6. Matdamon

    Who guards the guards

    Have you ever met anyone who works for a regulator? They are all idiots. I bet the charges are fine

  7. Roland6 Silver badge

    Ofcom wants its cake and to eat it...

    Any sane person would understand that as part of the takeover of EE, ALL parts of BT would incur costs as individuals from those departments get involved in working out where service overlaps might occur and hence identify potential costs, savings and benefits, plus how EE might be integrated into the operation.

    I find it interesting that the costs in 2014/15 are so low - only £26m, from the noise Ofcom are making you would of thought they were attributing £260m of costs to business connectivity services, rather £1.7m. £0.4m is broadly equivalent to having two consultants working on this full-time for the year.

    Rest assured that in 2015/16, the costs associated with the integration of EE's business into BT will be significantly higher.

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