......which may lead to £2m fine

TalkTalk has sought to blame a dispute with a South African call centre for a potential £2million Ofcom fine for conducting forbidden 'silent calls'. The telecoms firm is being investigated by Ofcom for silent marketing calls where customers pick up the phone to find no one is there. The calls are outlawed and occur when call centre systems automatically dial and connect calls, but leave the line silent when the recipient answers unless a staff member is free to handle the call.

Companies often use computers to generate phone calls as part of its marketing strategy. Silent calls usually occur when companies use this type of automated system to cold call the public. Under current rules silent calls are not allowed to exceed three per cent of total calls to customers in 24 hours on the grounds of the nuisance or potential alarm it can cause to the public. TalkTalk could be fined £2million if Ofcom finds it broke the rules.

But TalkTalk is blaming rogue employees of a South African call centre partner, which it no longer works with, for the breach. The company said the calls were made by workers at Teleperformance in Cape Town. TalkTalk said it had ended a contract with Teleperformance prior to the silent calls being....Read more here--> TalkTalk blames South African firm for silent calls which may lead to £2m fine | This is Money