Changing phone or internet services should easier, says Ofcom

Until now, it only accredited services that were independent of phone or internet companies.

Now it will give its blessing to tariff comparison calculators, even if they are run by telecom service operators.

An Ofcom spokesman said it would do this if the service on offer was both easy to use and also accurate.

This means that well known companies such as BT and Orange might get the Ofcom seal of approval for any price comparison service they offer to customers on their web sites.

Easier

Ofcom's view is that customers are more likely to shop around if they can make tariff comparisons easily.

Many people do not even know these services exist.

Other regulators have already taken a step in this direction.

The energy regulator Ofgem directs customers to the web site of its consumer watchdog body, Energywatch.

This in turn displays the details of more than a dozen price comparison companies, some of which also compare the tariffs of fixed line phone, mobile phone and internet suppliers.