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Oftel's parting shot hits Hutchison - "Unfair!" says 3

"As a brand new operator, we are a new entrant offering ground breaking products and services so a direct comparison would be misleading," said a Hutchison executive, as Oftel bows out with a damning report on the UK's first 3G service

The report, highlighted in the Guardian this week, claimed that Oftel received 552 complaints about 3's service between April 1 and the end of September.

That's a lot fewer complaints than you might imagine, given the headline: "3 phone service bottom in Oftel league" but it reflects the slow progress 3 is making towards its first million users. Rivals O2, Orange and T-Mobile received 0.2 complaints per 1,000 customers (200 per million) while only 0.1 complained about Vodafone for every 1,000 users.

Hutchison's staff complained that this was unfair: "We are competing with businesses that have 10 years experience with old technology and should theoretically have got it right by now."

The Guardian's report points out that Oftel ceases to exist next month, being replaced by Ofcom. A "Transitional Website" is up and running.