- Customers will see their monthly bills rise by 40% more than they were told
Up to 15.6million O2 mobile phone customers will see their bills rise by 40 per cent more than they were originally told.
The phone network has announced a new mid-contract policy change that will hike airtime costs by £2.50 a month for all customers instead of £1.80, starting in 2026.
From 1 April 2026, O2 customers will see their monthly bills rise by more than they they were told when they signed up to their contracts.
Bills will rise by £30 a year, up 40 per cent from the £21.60 annual increase previously written into their contracts.
The change adds a huge increase proportionally for customers on cheaper deals, according to price comparison website Uswitch.
For example, On O2’s £8.50 Sim-only 12-month contract with 50GB data and unlimited calls and texts, this represents a staggering 29 per cent increase in their annual bill.
Parent company Virgin Media O2 said the price hike represents ‘excellent value for services.’
O2 has announced a new mid-contract policy that will hike airtime costs by £2.50 a month for all customers instead of £1.80 for 15.6m customers
It comes weeks after Virgin Media raised broadband prices, while EE and BT also hiked prices mid-contract in July.
Telecommunications regulator Ofcom announced rules in January to force mobile providers to show customers exactly how much their bill will increase by each year in pounds and pence before they sign up to a contract.
These rules were intended to make it clear to customers how much they would pay over the full duration of their contract, and put a stop to mid-contract price hikes.
The unexpected price hike means that O2 customers who are subject to the rise now have the right to leave their contract penalty-free.
Ernest Doku, mobiles expert at Uswitch said: ‘This move puts O2’s mid-contract price rise at the higher end of the scale of mobile providers’ increases to date.
‘With different networks taking changing approaches to price increases, it’s never been more important to compare deals available to you to make sure you’re getting the best deal.
‘Since the increase applies to new and existing users, O2 customers don’t have to put up with this increase and can leave their contracts penalty-free.
‘ It only takes a few minutes to run a comparison, and there are plenty of mobile providers such as Smarty, Lebara, and Voxi who don’t raise prices mid-contract.’
An O2 spokesperson said: ‘With demand for mobile data at an all-time high, we’re introducing a 70p per month increase to annual price rises for O2 customers, effective each April.
‘An annual rise of £2.50 a month – around 8p a day – continues to represent excellent value for services that customers are using more than ever before.
‘We’ve again frozen prices on handset repayment plans and are investing £700million into our mobile network this year to ensure we meet growing demand and give our customers the fast and reliable connectivity they rely on.
‘Customers on our social tariffs continue to be exempt from any price changes as part of our efforts to provide support to those who need it most.’
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