Judgment of the Tribunal determining the rates to be paid for mobile call termination between BT and each of T-Mobile, O2, H3G, Orange and Vodafone, and between H3G and each of O2 and Orange, so that it could remit the matter back to OFCOM with a direction specifying the rates to be applied.
The Tribunal upheld BT’s rejection of the Operator Charge Change Notices (“OCCNs”) served by T-Mobile and O2. The Tribunal held that, even if 3G termination charges should be higher than 2G termination charges, neither T-Mobile nor O2 made a realistic assessment of the additional costs in the prices that they proposed to charge BT.
The Tribunal also concluded that neither Vodafone nor Orange justified their disputed rates by reference to any assessment of costs. The proposed rates were not reasonable in comparison with the rate set in the first year of the Mobile call termination statement dated 27 March 2007. The Tribunal therefore upheld BT’s OCCNs served on Vodafone and Orange.
The Tribunal considered that the dispute between BT and H3G should be resolved by setting the average MCT price chargeable to BT on H3G's network, from 1 November 2006 to 31 March 2007, at 9.64 pence per minute.
As regards the disputes between H3G and Orange and between H3G and O2, the Tribunal concluded that the set of rates that it fixed for the supply of mobile call termination by respectively Orange and O2 to BT should also prevail for the supply of MCT by Orange and O2 to H3G.
