TalkTalk Hampers BT, Sky and Virgin Media’s Voluntary Compensation Code

A second attempt by three of the United Kingdom’s largest broadband ISPs to secure a new Voluntary Code of Practice for handling Automatic Compensation, which would be paid during a total loss of service, is being disrupted by TalkTalk’s refusal to sign-up.

Last month saw Ofcom unveil their chosen proposal for a new mandatory system of Automatic Compensation for protracted losses of broadband service, which at the same time rejected a softer voluntary proposal from BT, Sky Broadband and Virgin Media (here).

At the time the regulator said of the voluntary proposal: “We do not think that the industry proposal sufficiently meets our concerns when quality of service falls short.” Since then the big ISPs have been attempting to improve upon their proposal but The Telegraph reports that TalkTalk has refused to sign-up, with the provider allegedly preferring a system set by Ofcom

John Petter, CEO of BT’s Consumer Division, said:

“The industry needs to get its act together. There’s one provider that’s resisting this, it’s Talk Talk. If there’s anyone here from Talk Talk, please come on board and back the code of practice please.”

Ofcom expects to set out their final position on the new system by the end of 2017 and it may then take another year before it can be introduced, which is partly because the plan will require significant internal changes to existing admin systems. TalkTalk has decline to give an official comment.

However, consumers could face a bigger annual hike in some of their service prices than usual. The regulator has estimated that its plan would mean up to 2.6 million additional customers could receive up to £185m in compensation payments each year.