Re: Fine?
Exactly the same problem arises with Ofgem / energy companies / customers,
That is the case, but the outcomes vary dramatically. So Ofcom have done diddly squat for consumers for a very long while. Ofwat have done a pretty good job of regulating the asset-based water business to keep costs under control whilst delivering a decent service. Ofgem on the other hand have become a rabid dog, forever running round snarling, growling and fining energy companies (something approaching £290m in the last five or so years, all paid by you). It wields undue influence with the sub-par policy makers at DECC, and between them they have come up with complex, expensive programmes that add millions of quid a year to customer bills (FiT, Green Deal, etc). It comes up with regular "market reviews" that always have a bad outcome, from the original bankrupting of British Energy, through to the more recent ill fated "Retail Market Review" that decided that you, the public, were too stupid to be offered more than four tariffs (and much of that is now having to be backed out following a long winded and expensive CMA enquiry, again all at your expense). it claims to be in favour of markets, whilst always trying to oppose their functioning, for the simple reason that Ofgem has a preconceived view of what energy consumers ought to be buying, and that's very different from what you and I mostly want.
The really interesting thing is that the potential Ofcom fines are capped at £20k a day - so for a year's continued "offending" less than £7.5m That's more example of incompetent law making and regulation, because we're talking about small change to the big players. Vodafone have an operating profit around £1.4bn from their UK business, I think they must be laughing into their champagne at such trivial fines. If, on the other hand, you were a an MVNO with a handful of customers (and reliant on an MNO for most of your service quality), then that money matters.
So, BAU in the world of telecoms: Big players get away scot free, regulator toothless and useless.