A London-based phone and broadband ISP, Continental Telecom (CT), has today been fined £50,000 for failing to provide information to Ofcom as part of its investigation into the firms landline mis-selling. Ofcom first threatened to take direct action in October 2010 (here), which the operator appears to have ignored.

The situation began earlier this year when Ofcom accused CT of using "unacceptable sales tactics" (here) after consumers were switched to the provider without their express and informed consent (a form of mis-selling known as slamming). Customers were then kept in the dark about their rights and some even faced disconnection for an alleged non-payment of bills, albeit without being given any due warning.

Ofcom told CT to comply with its rules (General Condition 24) by allowing affected customers to end their contracts without charge and to refund fees to customers who had paid to transfer to another provider. It also had to reconnect suspended and disconnected customers urgently.

At the time Ofcom gave the ISP a month to comply with its legally-binding Notification and, as part of the monitoring phase of its investigation, also requested information from CT about its turnover. This is needed to help the regulator design an appropriate financial penalty (max 10% of the company's turnover).

Information about a company's turnover is usually filed with Companies House, yet CT failed to file its accounts on time and also failed to provide Ofcom with this information when requested (deadline was 25th November 2010). The situation was not resolved and as a result CT has now been fined £50,000.

Continental Telecom now has until 14th January 2011 to pay the fine and could face a further penalty, worth up to 10% of the firms turnover, assuming it fails to address the wider problems. Ofcom is currently considering CT's compliance, although it would be difficult to fine the company if they fail to reveal their turnover details.

Meanwhile Continental Telecom's website and service has since disappeared from the internet. Ofcom may have acted too late.