BT announces price increases
BT has announced that it will increase prices on landline and broadband services and that customers will begin paying to access BT Sport.
Effective 2 April, the price for copper broadband service will increase by £2 a month, while the price for fibre broadband service will increase by £2.50 a month, representing an increase of between five per cent and six per cent across all service bundles.
The monthly price of anytime calling plans will increase from £8.50 to £8.99, and the price of evening and weekend calling plans will rise from £3.50 to £3.80. The cost for calls will also rise by one penny a minute.
Effective 1 August, BT TV customers will begin paying £3.50 a month to view BT Sport. Currently, BT TV customers can access this feature at no additional charge.
The prices for monthly phone rental and TV subscription will not change.
Per Ofcom rules, BT customers have 30 days after receiving notice of the proposed increases to opt out of their current contracts if they don’t agree to the changes.
John Petter, the head of BT’s consumer division, said: “Customers will get a better package and improved service from us this year in exchange for paying a little more.
“Millions will have the chance to upgrade to faster broadband, and almost a million will be able to upgrade to enjoy unlimited usage for no extra cost.
“As usual, we’ve taken care of low-income customers by freezing the price of BT Basic and capping call costs. We’ve also frozen line rental, which will particularly help customers who only take a traditional phone service from us.”
Rival companies Virgin Media, TalkTalk and Sky have also announced similar price hikes during the past year.