Ofcom has fined O2 £150,000 for failing to provide “complete and accurate information” during an investigation into the company’s previous billing issues.

The competition authority has been making regular requests for information from O2 after the telecoms firm was hit with a £10.5 million fine earlier this year.

An Ofcom investigation discovered that O2 had been overcharging customers for nearly a decade, including those who intended to leave its mobile services.

When customers leave a mobile provider, the service operator provides a final bill highlighting any remaining fees and charges.

According to Ofcom, between 2011 and 2019, an error in the way O2 calculated these final bills meant many customers were being billed for some charges twice.

As part of Ofcom’s investigation, O2 was requested to send the regulator information regarding the progress after its fine. However, the telecoms firm provided “incorrect and incomplete responses,” which caused Ofcom’s investigation to take “longer to complete than necessary”.

In a statement, Ofcom said: “This evidence is vital to our decision-making, and so it is essential that companies respond by the deadline, with accurate and complete information. If companies fail to do this, they face action from Ofcom.”

According to Ofcom, O2 has a history of contraventions in this area and demonstrated a “level of carelessness” in responding to the regulator’s information requests.

“We take such failings seriously and have decided to fine O2 £150k for this breach of its regulatory obligations.

“The penalty includes a 25% reduction from the penalty we would otherwise have imposed, as a result of O2 accepting liability and entering into a settlement.

“We have also told O2 to review its processes and systems for responding to our information requests.”

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The Ofcom statement continued: “In O2’s case, we have found several aggravating factors that cumulatively support our finding that its contravention of the relevant information requirements was a serious one and something which we have reflected in the financial penalty.”

The case against O2 was opened on the 13th of December 2019 and closes today with the announcement of the £150k fine.

As well as the fine, Ofcom said it had also requested that O2 “review its processes and systems” for responding to further information requests in the future.

Despite failing to provide the correct information as part of the Ofcom investigation, O2 responded to the original fine in February, stating that they were “disappointed by this technical error” and apologised to customers impacted.

The telecoms provider also said it had fully refunded affected customers, as well as adding a 4% compensation.

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