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By Tony Hallett, 30 June 1998 16:14

NEWS Oftel's crack down against unscrupulous telesales firms is good news for consumers and small businesses, according to analysts. In a landmark ruling last Friday, the telecoms watchdog prohibited marketing specialists James E James from constantly calling The Greek Taverna, a restaurant in Carshalton, Surrey. Oftel threatened to withdraw the company's telemarketing licence. Vas Herodotou, owner of The Greek Taverna, told Silicon: "Someone's got to stand up for the small businessman. For two years the company told me it was a physical impossibility to have me taken off their calling list - I have nothing but contempt for them." According to Benoit Reillier, a consultant at Telcom, this is just the sort of harassment that Oftel must increasingly seek to eliminate. Given the backdrop of so many new entrants offering telecoms services in the UK, Oftel has to put consumer protection near the top of its agenda, Reillier said. "Bringing an actual harassment case may be a bit extreme, so Oftel is doing something in between. We might not see a lot more of this kind of action, but it is definitely a rising trend," he said.