Oftel pulls plug on BT internet hard sell

BT has been caught breaking fair competition rules in promoting its internet service after an urgent investigation by the Office for Telecommunications (Oftel) found the telco had been using customer records to identify and target users.

The telecoms giant was forced to severely reprimand a staff member on its call desk after she tried to sell BT's internet service to a caller.

The employee's actions sparked complaints from ISPs to Oftel, the telecoms regulatory agency, over BT using caller information to promote its products.

Oftel and BT agreed the strategy was a serious breach of the fair trading condition of BT's licence.

BT will launch BT Click this week, which offers Net access for a one pence surplus on line costs, with no join-up or software fees.

David Pincott, PR manager for the internet at BT, admitted: 'There was an operator that left the script and she has been disciplined.'

Another complaint was made by Paul Myers, joint chief executive of X-Steam, who experienced a similar situation when calling to add his company's connection number to the Friends and Family service.

He wrote to Oftel: 'This is an absolute and total abuse of BT's position.'