BT hits back at Carphone dig

It's getting ugly

BT has hit back at jibes by Carphone Warehouse boss Charles Dunstone that the UK's dominant telco should "spend a little more time looking at their own expensive call charges and a little less time reading our ads".

Dunstone's comments followed a ruling today by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which ticked off TalkTalk for saying that customers could make calls for "free".

Responding to Dunstone's earlier dig, BT Retail COO John Petter said: "This is obviously a very embarrassing ruling, especially when Carphone is telling the world that its play on 'free' means 'free'.

"We agree customers are important and note that the ASA has also received over 40 complaints from the public about the 'free' broadband advertisements. We will stop worrying about their advertising when trading standards bodies and customers can stop worrying about being misled by marketing spin about 'free' and the very smallest of small print." ®