Telcos accused of keeping tariffs secret

NEWS According to Ocean Solutions, which is setting up a telecoms price comparison service for businesses, more than 30 telcos have refused to supply tariff information, and have even threatened to sue the company if it tries to publish such details. However, the telcos have hit back saying they are under no obligation to pass on pricing information to companies like Ocean Solutions and expressed concern that if they made their tariffs public, they would be open to misinterpretation. Paul Jankel, Director of Ocean Solutions, claims the situation means business telecoms is not a genuinely a competitive market, because customers are in no position to compare like with like. But Hugh Logan, MD of Norweb, denied the claims. He said: "There are complex and unique packages specifically tailored for individual customer requirements. It is unrealistic in that case to produce a generic pricing document." A spokeswoman for Telia added that it does not publish prices because it does not want to subject its offerings to misinterpretation. At the time of publication Colt was unavailable for comment. However, Jankel went further, alleging that tariffs are intentionally complex in order to make comparison impossible. "Everyone talks about the competitive telecoms market - but there is no real marketplace for price," he said. "A businessman shouldn't have to spend six months getting quotes and balancing figures. He should be able to do it in an afternoon via a transparent comparison system, and anyone who says otherwise is making money on the confusion," Jankel added, Telecoms user groups admit there is a policy of pricing confusion on the part of the telcos to prevent competition, but have so far fallen short of requesting open publication of prices be made mandatory. Oftel says it cannot force telcos to publish this information. Currently it maintains telcos need only provide such information to individual customers who request it, but not to business users which are not their customer, and not to businesses who offer price comparisons.