THE head of British Telecom yesterday criticised plans by the telecommunications watchdog to take on new anti competitive powers.

Sir Iain Vallance, BT chairman, told shareholders that Oftel, the industry regulator, had made it clear to the company that the proposed new price regime was dependent on BT allowing the Oftel director general to adopt new powers.

Oftel has proposed allowing BT to raise the cost of calls by the rate of inflation minus 4.5 points a year (known as RPI-4.5) for five years from next April effectively meaning prices will fall while inflation is low.