Oftel told to make phone users aware of cost savings

The National Audit Office (NAO) has called on the communication watchdog Oftel to concentrate its efforts to raise consumer awareness so that more consumers can make savings, according to a report presented to Parliament today.

The report focused on the fixed-line market, where there is less competition, as many consumers are "not well motivated" to change their telephone supplier.

Although numbers continue to rise, with around one-third of consumers having switched at some stage, an NAO survey in September 2002 found that 68% of consumers had made no changes in the last two years to the way they buy these services.

However, the report said that Oftel had taken steps to improve consumer awareness in the fixed line telecommunications market and had improved competition by investigating and addressing anti-competitive behaviour.

Many consumers, however, were still not aware of important features of the market, such as indirect access operators. These operators are generally cheaper than BT's standard tariff, especially for international calls.

Although Oftel's research points to high general awareness of indirect access, the NAO survey found that 77% of consumers could not name a single indirect access operator. The report recommends that Oftel should provide, where appropriate, more practical guidance that reaches the consumers it is targeting as part of its consumer information strategy.

Among the report's recommendation are that Oftel should continue developing its assessment of which consumers are losing out through a lack of information, to identify the opportunities for them to get more for their money.

Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, said: "It is hard for consumers to understand how to get a good deal for fixed-line telephones, and therefore many do not try. Oftel has been working to help raise awareness, but it needs to have a better understanding of why consumers behave the way they do and should also make it easier for them to compare the tariffs on offer, for example by building on its tariff comparison accreditation scheme."

(GMcG)