One of the United Kingdom’s largest mobile network operators, BT, is in court defending itself in a lawsuit in which it is accused of overcharging three million landline customers, many of them elderly.
The case opened yesterday at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London valuing the amount of damages at $1.65 billion, according to Mobile Europe. This is the first case citing the Consumer Rights Act passed in 2015, which permits collective action against apparent breaches in competition law. Ofcom, the U.K.’s FCC, reviewed the case in 2017 against BT and said the carrier had a “significant market power” in the landline segment and ordered BT to drop its prices.
Critics said this was not enough and did not provide adequate compensation for the elderly customers. The new class action suit is hoping to provide an additional $500 each to BT’s three million customers that were affected. BT is claiming the issue was settled in 2017, and will “robustly defend” its actions.
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