The UK government claims a new Telecoms Consumer Charter will stop customers being hit by unexpected bill increases and offer clearer pricing when signing up to deals.
Britain’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) says major telco providers – BT, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), the newly conjoined VodafoneThree, Sky, and TalkTalk – have signed up to new commitments under the charter.
The charter, however, appears to be nothing more than a voluntary code of conduct with no legal enforcement.
The providers attended a Wednesday roundtable hosted by Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall. The move follows a November letter from the pair asking telcos to confirm “customers under contract will not face price rises beyond those that they signed up to.”
The government claims customers will know exactly what they’ll be paying when they sign up for mobile or broadband deal, with no unexpected price hikes midway through a contract. Note: not no price rises – just no unexpected ones. The charter requires providers give clear upfront information about future price changes.
The text of the Telecoms Consumer Charter is available here, so Reg readers can see what it says for themselves, but we’ve included a taster.
Crucially, customers should always receive clear and easily understandable information about their telecoms services and prices, and any changes, so they know exactly what they are paying for and why.
All providers commit that “where a contract includes a mid‑contract price increase, the core subscription price (monthly payment) for their service that customers sign up to is the price that they will pay. Any exception to this is limited strictly to unforeseeable and externally driven events that materially affect the cost of providing services.”
This follows O2’s decision last year to lift prices beyond original contract expectations, which prompted scrutiny from Ofcom. The regulator previously banned mid-contract price rises unless providers let customers leave penalty-free – O2 simply told customers they knew where the door was if they didn’t like it.
The charter states that for customers still on legacy inflation-linked T&Cs, April 2026 will be the final increase expressed this way, after which all contracts are to move to the clearer pounds-and-pence system.
Signatories also commit to easier switching by through One Touch Switching, Text‑to‑Switch, and related processes remain “quick, simple, and seamless.”
However, the relatively short text in the charter doesn’t appear to carry any legal weight, making it simply a voluntary code with no penalties for breaking its terms.
“We remain skeptical about how the Telecoms Consumer Charter will protect customers who have been hit by mid-contract price rises. This appears to be a belated and weak response to providers testing how far they can push price increases during fixed-term deals,” said Alex Tofts, broadband expert at comparison site Broadband Genie.
Paddy Paddison, CEO of the Independent Networks Cooperative Association, took the opposite stance: “INCA welcomes this engagement between government, Ofcom and industry through the Telecoms Consumer Charter.”
“Customers should be able to understand, in plain pounds and pence, what they are signing up to and what they can expect to pay. It is important these commitments are practical and maintain the conditions for continued investment and network competition, because that is what delivers better coverage, service quality and value over time.” ®