BT and One2One suggested that the government’s suspension of 3G payments whilst Vodafone was in the process of selling Orange amounted to unfair state aid for their rivals, because it allowed them to save money on interest payments in the intervening 16 weeks.
BT and One2One calculated that the extra interest paid on debts arranged to finance the licence payments cost the companies about £85m more than their rivals. The Master of the Rolls, Lord Phillips, sitting with Lords Justices Henry and Brook, upheld a High Court judge’s earlier rejection of the claim.
