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Ofcom UK Opens Silent Calls Investigation into Broadband ISP TalkTalk

Posted: 14th Oct, 2011 By: MarkJ
talktalk uk internet isp privacy concernofcom ukThe communications regulator, Ofcom UK, has reportedly launched an investigation into broadband and phone provider TalkTalk after it discovered how the ISP had been "persistently" making silent phone calls that appeared to be in breach of its rules.

The regulator introduced new rules in February 2011 that were designed to "clamp down on silent calls" by placing restrictions upon the use of automated dialling equipment. Companies that breach those rules could face enforcement action, which can include fines of up to £2 million.

Ofcom's January 2011 Statement - Silent Calls

Ofcom received over 9000 complaints in 2010 about silent calls. Where consumers have complained to Ofcom about silent calls – and told us how often they are receiving them – over 70 per cent say that they have received two or more calls in a day from the same company. These silent calls were often over a period of days or even weeks.

Ofcom believes that this is mainly due to technology used by call centre operators to detect answer machines. This can mistake a ‘live’ consumer for an answering machine and cut off the call without the person hearing anything, resulting in a silent call.

Silent calls can cause significant distress to consumers which can be made worse by receiving these calls repeatedly, leading to some people believing they are being specifically targeted.

At the time Ofcom's CEO, Ed Richards, warned that he had given "sufficient warnings to companies about silent calls" and was ready to take action against any that continued to breach its rules. Until now the highest profiles targets of Ofcom's wrath have been nPower and HomeServe, both of which were also threatened with a hefty fine.

Ofcom claims to have seen a significant number of abandoned calls from TalkTalk between 1st February 2011 and 21st March 2011, which were routed through call centres in both South Africa and the UK. ComputerActive quotes Ofcom as saying that it has "reasonable grounds for believing that ... Talktalk persistently misused an electronic communications network".

A TalkTalk Spokesperson said:

"[TalkTalk] demands high standards from the companies it works with and closely monitors their performance. In February and March 2011 a company who were completing a notice period with us did not always meet these standards and were responsible for abandoned marketing calls being made.

A sales agency working for our business-to-business division has also been found to make excessive abandoned calls. Talktalk no longer works with these sales agencies and, if Ofcom imposes a financial penalty, we will recover this sum from the third party responsible."

It's always somebody else's fault. Thankfully TalkTalk has now cast aside the firms involved and deserves some credit for doing so. Still we suspect that TalkTalk, which has been given two weeks to respond to Ofcom's notification, will be very glad to see the back of 2011 and a disastrous series of bad publicity and rulings by Ofcom against its name (the billing mistakes example).

Ofcom is likely to warn first and only impose an actual fine if the abuse were to continue; as a result TalkTalk stands a good chance of escaping with just a slap on the wrists. Still it could probably do without more bad publicity.
Ofcom's Silent Calls Advice for Consumers (PDF)
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/telecoms/privacy/silent-call/
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