Sound of silence may cost £2m

MARKETING companies responsible for silent calls could face fines of up to £2 million under new rules which came into force yesterday.

Ofcom received more than 9,000 complaints about silent calls last year, with over 70 per cent of customers affected saying they had answered two or more calls from the same company in one day.

Ofcom has fined nine companies for such calls, with Barclaycard receiving the previous maximum penalty of 50,000.