- Communications firms put up their prices for millions of deals in April
- Now new analysis reveals how much these hikes affect household bills
Broadband and mobile phone customers now pay almost £300 a year more for the exact same services due to swingeing price rises.
The average broadband deal increased in price by £182.40 a year in April, while the airtime part of mobile phone contracts is up by £94.80, according to comparison firm Uswitch.
That is due to yearly mid-contract price rises linked to inflation coming in from April, with customers seeing their bills increase by up to 7.9 per cent.
This means the average person paying for both broadband and a mobile phone is now being charged £277 a year more.
Cost of connection: Britons are paying more for their broadband and mobile phone bills
Britons are now paying £9billion for broadband and £5.4billion for mobile phones every year.
Loyal customers are paying the largest increases, Uswitch said.
The average Briton has stayed with their mobile and broadband provider for five years.
Mobile customers who stayed with their provider for eight to nine years suffered the most, paying an extra £13.20 on their bill last month.
That is a huge 67 per cent price rise in comparison to the national average price increase of £7.90.
Those who switched their mobile provider less than one year ago were the best off, with their increases averaging out at £6.70, or 15 per cent lower than the national average of £7.90.
| Length of time spent with one firm | Mobile monthly price rise | Broadband monthly price rise |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 1 year | £6.70 | £11.75 |
| 1-2 years | £7.70 | £13.40 |
| 2-3 years | £8.50 | £15.80 |
| 3-4 years | £8.40 | £15.90 |
| 4-5 years | £7.90 | £12.80 |
| 5-6 years | £7 | £13.60 |
| 6-7 years | £11.70 | £15.60 |
| 7-8 years | £12.80 | £22.10 |
| 8-9 years | £13.20 | £21.90 |
| Source: Uswitch. All figures are averages | ||
Broadband customers who had stayed with their provider for seven to eight years were the worst off, paying on average £22.10 extra this month.
That is 45 per cent more than the national average price rise of £15.20.
Comparatively, those who switched their broadband provider less than one year ago saw their price increase average out at £11.75 – 23 per cent lower than the national average of £15.20.
Belfast sees biggest mobile price hike
Those in Belfast saw the biggest increases in mobile bills, now paying £11.60 more than they did last month, or almost double (47 per cent) the national average £7.90 increase.
Londoners have been dealt a double blow – now paying £10.20 more for their mobile (29 per cent higher than the national average increase of £7.90) and £17.70 more for broadband (a 16 per cent rise on the typical increase of £15.20.
Well over half of Britons (57 per cent) say they weren’t expecting the mid-contract price increases, Uswitch said.
Regulator Ofcom is considering plans to ban these inflation-linked price increases from this summer, but not in time to avert this year’s rises.
Additionally, any tough new rules would only apply to price rises on new contracts, not existing ones.
Sabrina Hoque, telecoms expert at Uswitch, said: ‘An expected Ofcom ban on inflation-linked price increases will be welcome news to consumers, giving them increased clarity on what they’ll pay for their contract upfront. But this still doesn’t undo the impact of year on year rises for millions of Britons.
‘A key factor is the compounding effect of annual year-on-year mid-contract price rises, as each year’s percentage increase will be based on a bigger and bigger total. After multiple years, this will really make a difference.’
Why have mobile and broadband costs risen?
Broadband and mobile firms are allowed to increase their costs every year. Most link these increases to inflation.
Price hikes that take place from March to May are normally based on inflation figures from the previous December – often with an extra profit on top.
Price increases in 2024 were up to 7.8 per cent – the December 2023 inflation figure of 4 per cent plus up to 3.9 per cent on top.
For mobile phone deals it is only the cost of the airtime that can increase yearly, not repayments for the device itself.