The companies could count themselves lucky – if Oftel had the ultimate say, the regulators would have imposed stricter controls. However, following opposition from operators, the final decision was left to the government Competition Commission, which felt that harsher restrictions were unnecessary. From this year, One2One and Orange will also have to adhere to these rules.
UK mobile tariff controls extended for another year
Vodafone and BT Cellnet thought that they would be free from Oftel price limits at the end of next month but the regulator has extended the controls by a year. It will not be until next March that the operators will have the price controls lifted which currently holds network tariffs at 7% below UK inflation.