This was the first case before the Tribunal which raised the possibility of the reference of price control matters from the Tribunal to the Competition Commission under section 193 of the Communications Act 2003.
In addition to the main parties, five telecommunications providers (BT, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone) intervened in these proceedings.
The parties disagreed, in relation to a particular matter raised in the appeal, as to whether or not that matter was a “specified price control matter” which should be referred to the Competition Commission, or not. The Tribunal decided to resolve this disagreement as a preliminary issue.
In this ruling, the Tribunal determined, in relation to that matter, the precise wording of the question to be heard as a preliminary issue.
