Fight breaks out between rival telcos

A war of words has broken out between two rival telcos after LocalTel accused Telnet of being in breach of copyright and the Trades Descriptions Act. On Friday, LocalTel issued a statement threatening legal action against Telnet, the telco behind two-week old ISP GreatXscape, unless it withdrew from circulation all CDs, packaging and any marketing or advertising information that "may bear the false or misleading statement". Today, Nigel Warr, MD of Telnet, said the accusations were a "load of baloney". He said he would not comply with LocalTel's request to remove CDs from shops adding that reports that CDs had already been withdrawn were simply not true. "We will look at any reasonable complaint," said Warr. "But I think they [LocalTel] are trying to mix it. I think the frustrations of the last few months have helped contribute to this anti-competitive behaviour," he said. Jeremy Stokes, MD for LocalTel, which is behind ISP Screaming.net, said he hoped that the matter would be resolved shortly. ®