COMPUTER giant Time has welcomed the trade watchdog's verdict that the market for home PCs is competitive.

The Office of Fair Trading has conducted a ten-month inquiry into the market amid concerns that UK customers were paying significantly more for home computers than in other European countries.

But the OFT concluded that price differences between countries were mainly due to different specifications of computers.

"Time Computers agree with the OFT. We believe that the direct retail concept we pioneered has been instrumental in driving down the prices of home PCs," said a spokesman for the Simonstone firm.

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