PHONE giant BT has been fined £800,000 for failing to provide an improved text-to-voice service for its customers with hearing or speech impairments between April and September last year.
The service, called ‘Next Generation Text Service’, helps users have more natural conversations using speech as well as text, and is accessible on devices such as PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
In October 2012, the communications regulator Ofcom told all UK landline and mobile phone providers to launch their service by 18 April 2014.
BT missed the deadline having encountered technical problems with the sound quality of emergency calls. It launched Next Generation Text on 24 September.
Claudio Pollack, Ofcom’s consumer and content group director, said:
“The size of the penalty imposed on BT reflects the importance of providing an improved text relay service to its customers with hearing and speech impairments.
“However, BT has invested significantly in launching the new text relay service, which allows users to have conversations more easily and fluently and on new devices. We welcome the fact the service is now operating successfully.”
BT must pay the £800,000 financial penalty to Ofcom and it will then be passed on to HM Treasury.
