OFCOM is set to lift tough controls dictating how much BT can charge its business customers, in a significant concession to the telecoms giant.

The telecoms regulator, which recently laid out plans to lift price controls on BT’s consumer market, will announce shortly new proposals for the business market — which is worth £1 billion a year to the company.

The move, which was proposed in a consultation document last year, will remove a further layer of bureaucracy from the former monopoly and allow it to compete better with its rivals.

Under the plans, the regulator is expected to allow BT to choose its own prices when supplying products to its business customers.

At present the telecoms group must offer all its large business customers the same published call and line charges.

It is also expected to be freed from the requirement to publish its prices — allowing it to compete more effectively with its rivals.

The changes would apply only to customers that spend more than £1 million a year with BT.

The telecoms business market, in which BT’s main rival is Cable & Wireless, is fiercely competitive, with several companies fighting for the same contracts.

If BT chooses to undercut its rivals in the race to win work, the pressure on players such as C&W, COLT and Thus, the ScottishPower spin-off, will intensify greatly.

The removal of red tape in both the retail and business area was part of a pledge made by Ofcom in return for BT’s efforts in complying with the regulator’s proposals after a lengthy telecoms review in which BT had faced the threat of being broken up into its wholesale and retail businesses.

Ofcom declined to comment.

• British Telecom will offer about 500 pop concerts and music documentaries on the new digital television service that it plans to launch in the autumn.

  The company has signed separate deals with Eagle Rock and i-concerts, two music video companies, which will allow it to show performances by bands such as the Beach Boys, Franz Ferdinand and the Pixies, pictured above, on BT Vision, the new broadband service.

  The deals are the latest by BT to sign up content for BT Vision, which will be delivered through a set-top box made by Philips, using Microsoft software. It has already struck deals with Paramount, Warner Music Group, National Geographic Channel, HIT Entertainment, and BBC Worldwide.

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