Annual broadband and mobile price hikes are expected to go ahead as planned on April 1, inevitably leading to higher bills for millions of UK customers.
This year’s price hikes will be especially severe as major providers, including BT and TalkTalk, have a policy of increasing their prices in line with the consumer price index (CPI) plus up to 3.9% on top.
BT has confirmed a price hike of 14.4%, which analysts at Deutsche Bank said could lead to a “possible churn event” as customers seek out cheaper deals.
Virgin Media, which does not have the same CPI-linked pricing policy, is expected to raise broadband prices by 13.8%, still a record-breaking increase for the provider.
Virgin Media is also the most haggle-friendly broadband provider, according to MoneySavingExpert.com, which found that over 80% of customers successfully negotiated prices down in 2022.
However, Virgin Mobile users will not be as lucky- they’ll cop an eye-watering 17.3% increase on their monthly bill.
MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis called the price hikes “monumental”, advising customers who are considering changing providers to check their contracts for penalty-free cancellation policies.
Lewis noted that “14 million people are out of contract – and that means you are free to move, you're free to ditch, you're free to switch”.
Equinox 2 delay
On the wholesale front, BT Openreach was due to launch its Equinox 2 full-fibre discount offer to internet service providers on April 1 too.
Communications regulator Ofcom initially gave the go ahead, but has since delayed its approval for two months to weigh up objections from Openreach’s primary competitors Virgin Media O2 and CityFibre.