BT to pay out £342m in record penalty for Openreach failings

BT has been hit with the telecom watchdog’s biggest fine for failings at its Openreach arm.

Ofcom found that Openreach let down rivals such as Sky and TalkTalk with delays in installing high-speed phone and internet lines in 2013 and 2014.

It also cut the compensation payments it should have paid to those firms for being late.

BT will pay a £42 million fine and £300 million in compensation to corporate customers.

The shares fell 4.2p to 321.4p today.

Gaucho Rasmussen, Ofcom’s investigations director, said: “These high-speed lines are a vital part of this country’s digital backbone. Millions of people rely on BT’s network for the phone and broadband services they use every day. The size of our fine reflects how important these rules are.

“Our message is clear — we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour.”

Openreach chief Clive Selley said: “We apologise wholeheartedly for the mistakes made in the past.”

Some telecom experts saw the fine as part of the deal for Openreach not being entirely split from BT.