Britain’s biggest telecoms providers are preparing to launch inflation-busting price increases for broadband and mobile contracts this spring, hitting consumers with a combined bill worth £600m more than if these deals had matched the cost of living.
BT, EE, Vodafone, Virgin Media, O2 and TalkTalk are to increase bills for tens of millions of customers under “mid-contract price rises” from April and May.
BT and Vodafone add 3.9 percentage points to the rate of the December CPI. Virgin Media is pushing through an average 13.8% rise, although customers will have a month to decide whether they want to leave.
This week O2 will reveal the scale of its price rise, which is based on January’s RPI plus 3.9 percentage points. Given RPI in December was 13.4%, a typical customer could be facing a 17%-plus annual rise. The company said the real increase would be closer to 9-10% as it applied to calls and data only, not the significant cost of payments for handsets that are part of bills.
However, from next year Virgin Media O2, the parent company of both brands, intends to roll out the RPI plus 3.9 percentage point mechanism across its entire TV and broadband business, not just the mobile phone arm.
If the UK’s biggest broadband and telecoms companies were to limit their increases to the level of inflation, scrapping any rise above that, British consumers could save an estimated £600m-plus on their annual bills.
full story at the Guardian
BT, EE, Vodafone, Virgin Media, O2 and TalkTalk are to increase bills for tens of millions of customers under “mid-contract price rises” from April and May.
BT and Vodafone add 3.9 percentage points to the rate of the December CPI. Virgin Media is pushing through an average 13.8% rise, although customers will have a month to decide whether they want to leave.
This week O2 will reveal the scale of its price rise, which is based on January’s RPI plus 3.9 percentage points. Given RPI in December was 13.4%, a typical customer could be facing a 17%-plus annual rise. The company said the real increase would be closer to 9-10% as it applied to calls and data only, not the significant cost of payments for handsets that are part of bills.
However, from next year Virgin Media O2, the parent company of both brands, intends to roll out the RPI plus 3.9 percentage point mechanism across its entire TV and broadband business, not just the mobile phone arm.
If the UK’s biggest broadband and telecoms companies were to limit their increases to the level of inflation, scrapping any rise above that, British consumers could save an estimated £600m-plus on their annual bills.
full story at the Guardian
