Uswitch: Broadband bills to rise by up to 4x rate of inflation
January 15, 2026
Millions of UK households are facing telco price rises up to four times the rate of inflation this April, as the industry marks one year since the launch of Ofcom’s ‘pounds and pence’ pricing rules. Analysis from Uswitch, the comparison and switching service, reveals that while inflation currently sits at 3.2 per cent, some mobile and broadband customers could face hikes of up to 13.4 per cent as a result of providers’ new price rise figures.
January 17th marks the first major anniversary of a shift in how bills are increased for customers on newer contracts. Previously, providers linked hikes to inflation, which could not be known in advance, with a further percentage added on top, which will still apply for many customers on older contracts. However, under Ofcom rules introduced 12 months ago, they must now state the exact pounds and pence increase a customer will face annually at the point of signing a contract, so the customer knows exactly what they are agreeing to in advance.
While this change has improved transparency, in many cases the rises are now significantly higher proportionally. The steepest increases proportionally are appearing across mobile phone bills, where consumers currently pay an average of £18.60 per month. From April, these customers could face a double-digit percentage rise of 13.4 per cent as new fixed monthly increases push bills up by £2.50 for many networks.
While many providers have set out these increases in advance, networks such as O2 have even put in place rises above the levels originally outlined in customer contracts.
It’s a similar story for broadband customers, where a number of the UK’s largest providers now apply a fixed £4 monthly price increase for new customers. When applied to the current average broadband bill of £35.90, this results in an 11.1 per cent rise – more than three times the current 3.2 per cent rate of inflation.
A quarter of broadband customers (24 per cent) say a £4 monthly increase would be unmanageable, despite this being the latest figure introduced by the UK’s largest providers for its newest customers.
On average, consumers say they would only tolerate a £2.70 broadband increase before considering switching, so many providers may face losing customers who are out of contract come April.
Mobile users face a similar squeeze. One in five (19 per cent) bill payers would struggle with a £2.50 monthly rise in their bill, whilst 17 per cent say they would not accept any rise at all.
A third of Brits (32 per cent) say they now spend more mental energy worrying about utility bills than they did two years ago. The growing strain is reflected in attitudes towards price rises, with one in five (19%) saying they tolerate increases but are actively looking for a reason to leave.
A significant divide is emerging, with a clear split between the biggest brands and smaller challengers, suggests Uswitch. While major broadband and mobile providers – including BT, EE, Virgin Media, and Vodafone – are standardising price hikes that can add up to £48 and £30 respectively a year to a bill, a growing number of ‘price-freeze’ providers, such as YouFibre in broadband and Lebara in mobiles, are bucking the trend.
Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch, commented: “Flat-rate ‘pounds and pence’ increases appear to be being used as a smokescreen for price hikes that, in many cases, are much higher as a proportion of the bill than the current rate of inflation. For customers on newer contracts, these fixed jumps will have been clear from the start of the contract. But the scale of the increases could catch people off guard as they compound every year. The most important thing consumers can do is keep track of their contract end date. Once you are out of contract, you can switch and reset the clock on your bills. By moving to a new deal, you can avoid these increases compounding on top of high out-of-contract rates, which can save broadband customers an average of £203 a year. There are still providers, such as Lebara for mobiles and YouFibre for broadband, that choose not to apply mid-contract rises at all. With these hikes hitting in spring, the time to act is now.”
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