Ofcom bans mid-contract TV, phone & broadband price rises
Mobile phone, pay TV services and broadband companies have been banned from mid-contract price rises.
New consumer protection rules announced today by media regulator Ofcom say from 17th January, providers must tell customers about any mid-contract price rises at the point of sale and “in pounds and pence”.
Cristina Luna-Esteban, Ofcom Telecoms Policy Director: “With household budgets squeezed, people need to have certainty about their monthly outgoings. But that’s impossible if you’re tied into a contract where the price could change based on something as hard to predict as future inflation.
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“We’re stepping in on behalf of phone, broadband and pay TV customers to stamp out this practice, so people can be certain of the price they will pay, compare deals more easily and take advantage of the competitive market we have in the UK.”
Ofcom found more than half of broadband customers (55%) and pay monthly mobile customers (58%) do not know what inflation rates such as CPI and RPI measure. And of those who are with providers that use inflation-linked price rises, very few broadband customers (16%) or mobile customers (12%) were both aware of the price rise and able to identify that it was inflation-linked with an additional percentage.
