BT’s acquisition of EE could harm consumers, Which? tells regulators
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Version 0 of 1. The UK’s most influential consumer group has stepped up pressure on BT over its acquisition of the mobile phone operator EE, telling regulators the deal could harm consumers. In a letter to the telecoms watchdog Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Which? expressed concern that the planned takeover and the anticipated merger of O2 and Three will lead to companies increasingly pushing “quad-play” deals onto consumers. These are deals that combine a mobile phone tariff, broadband, fixed line and pay-TV services under one bill. “Although BT has initially signalled that savings from simplifying its network will be passed on to customers, we know that the bundling of services makes it much more difficult for consumers to compare pricing,” said Richard Lloyd, the chief executive of Which? “Fewer players in an essential market is rarely good for consumers.” On Thursday, the BT Group finalised a £12.5bn deal to buy EE, Britain’s largest mobile phone network, a move that will cement its status as the biggest player in the UK telecoms market. Gavin Patterson, BT’s chief executive, said he expected the deal to be approved by the CMA without having to change the terms. In his letter, however, Lloyd urged Ofcom and the CMA to take action to make sure consumers did not lose out from a contracting telecoms sector and said that consolidations and other recent developments would signal significant change to the UK telecoms market. He also cited the recent annoucnement by Sky that it will partner with O2 to offer “quad-play” deals. “We believe these [consolidations and tie-ups] must be scrutinised in depth and with an appropriate focus on both competition and consumer outcomes,” he said. “The CMA, working with Ofcom, should therefore ensure that the market is being looked at in the round, and that the changes are not seen solely at the individual merger cases.” He suggested that the mergers could also adversely affect customer service . In the latest Ofcom survey of customer satisfaction BT scored badly in the landline section, achieving 61%, below the rating of Virgin, Sky and Talk Talk, and below the sector average of 67%. EE came out worst of the mobile network providers, scoring 69%, which put it just below Vodafone and 3 and well below O2 and Virgin. It also achieved the lowest score for a fixed broadband provider when compared with Virgin, Sky and Talk Talk. In Which?’s own recent customer satisfaction survey of the top 100 brands BT, EE and TalkTalk fared particularly badly, with only Ryanair and energy companies receiving worse scores. “Given that O2 and Three have tended to perform better, and that Three’s position as a challenger in the market has driven it to offer a number of consumer-friendly products and features, it is important that the mergers do not adversely affect competition and the level of service that consumers receive in the UK,” Lloyd said. |