Freeserve accused the BT Group of cross-subsidising its business sectors, claiming that BT Openworld was given advance notice that there would be a 40% reduction in BT Wholesale's price for broadband access. Freeserve also alleged that BT Wholesale's marketing campaign benefited BT's broadband retail business, against competition rules.
Oftel rejected the complaint but Freeserve appealed the decision claiming that the telecoms regulator "erred in law" and gave "inadequate and opaque reasons" for its ruling.
The Competition Commission decided to examine Freeserve's complaint. The Commission said that Oftel has the right to deal with complaints giving only brief reasons, "especially when faced with a poorly argued complaint." However it found that Oftel's decision was "in principle appealable" because this would achieve a "better balance" between the different interests involved in the case.
The Competition Commission's decision can be found as a 44-page PDF at:
www.competition-commission.org.uk/appeals/judge16.PDF