On 20 May the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) handed down its
judgment in the termination rate dispute appeals. In that judgment
the CAT overturned Ofcom's decisions in a number of disputes
that had arisen between mobile network operators (MNOs) and BT,
finding that Ofcom had made a number of errors in its approach and
had misapplied its dispute resolution powers.
The CAT has expressly considered the nature of Ofcom's
dispute resolution powers and provided guidance to Ofcom on how it
should exercise those powers in the future. This article considers
that new guidance.
OFCOM'S DISPUTE RESOLUTION POWERS
By virtue of the Communications Act (CA) 2003, Ofcom has powers
to resolve disputes arising between operators regarding the
provision of network access and/or other regulatory conditions
imposed by Ofcom. Such disputes arise when there has been a failure
of commercial negotiations between the parties.
