­The UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal has dismissed a complaint by Telefonica O2 over how the telecoms regulator, Ofcom handled the setting of mobile termination rates.

The dispute related to termination charges levied by Vodafone and Hutchison 3G UK (H3G) in October 2010, and in particular a practice known as "flip-flopping", a means by which mobile communications providers exploited the way in which average call termination charges were calculated under Ofcom's mobile call termination statement published on 27 March 2007.

The Tribunal rejected each of Telefónica's grounds of appeal, and concluded that Ofcom had clearly understood that dispute resolution constituted a separate limb of regulation, distinct from the pre-existing charge control regime.

It also found that Ofcom had given consideration to the question of whether the October 2010 charges were fair and reasonable in the light of all of its regulatory duties and objectives, and in light of the prevailing regulatory regime.

The Tribunal also ruled that there was also no error in law on Ofcom's part in giving predominant weight to Vodafone's and H3G's putative compliance with the significant market power regime.