Mobile cos face mass lawsuit for overcharging customers

Blitz Bureau

NEW DELHI: THE UK’s biggest mobile network providers including Vodafone and BT’s EE are facing a multi-billion-pound lawsuit for allegedly overcharging customers, after a London tribunal ruled on November 14 that a significant portion of it could continue, reported Reuters.

The case – which is also brought against Telefonica’s O2 and Hutchison’s Three UK, whose $19 billion merger with Vodafone was approved last year – was valued at over 3.2 billion pounds ($4.29 billion).

In a ruling on November 14, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) threw out those parts of the case claiming losses from before October 2015 as having been brought too late, but said claims for losses from after October 2015 could proceed to trial.

Lawyers representing consumer champion Justin Gutmann alleged the networks charged millions of British consumers who remained with the network after their minimum contract expired a “loyal penalty”, by continuing to charge for mobile devices which had already been paid off.

However, the networks’ lawyers said that the lawsuit is fundamentally flawed as it alleges anti-competitive behaviour “in an industry renowned for its competitiveness”. EE said that it did not accept the substantive allegations of the claim and intended to defend them robustly, while O2 said it welcomed the reduction in scope of the claim. “We maintain that there is no merit to Mr Gutmann’s case for the remaining period and will continue to robustly defend our position as it proceeds,” an O2 spokesperson said.

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