The UK’s telecom regulator Three is the only major UK mobile network to have declined to automatically cut customers’ monthly charge at the end of their contract’s lock-in time. The watchdog said it had challenged the industry to treat users more fairly.
Research by Ofcom revealed customers were overpaying £182m a year. The research was done after concerns about customers who are on contracts that put together the cost of the handsets with charges for monthly usage. Once the contract expires it could mean they are still paying instalments towards a handset they have already paid off.
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Mobile provides are talking measures to reduce customers bills are Virgin Mobile, Tesco Mobile, O2, Vodafone and EE. All discounts will come into effect by February 2020.
Three will not be reducing cuts in out of contract fees.
A Three UK spokesman said: “We do not believe Ofcom’s proposal will encourage engagement amongst consumers.
“Instead, it risks creating a stagnant market whereby consumers are not encouraged to shop around for the best deal at the end of their minimum term.”
Lindsay Fussell, Ofcom’s consumer group director, said: “Our research reveals a complex mobile market, where not everyone is getting a fair deal.
“So we’re introducing a range of measures to increase fairness for mobile customers, while ensuring we don’t leave existing customers worse off.
“All the major mobile companies – except Three – will also be reducing bills for millions of customers who are past their initial contract period.”
Each one of the providers supporting the Ofcom plan have different cuts they will be making for out of contract customers.
- Tesco Mobile will reduce the monthly charge to the best available airtime tariff
- O2 and Virgin Mobile will both cut the monthly charge to the equivalent of a 30 day Sim-only deal
- Vodafone and EE will both automatically reduce prices three months after the customers’ lock-in period expires
