If you enjoy BT’s phone, broadband or TV services, you can expect those packages to get a little more expensive in the coming months. According to The Guardian, the provider has announced a series of inflation-busting price increases, which will its see standard broadband rise from £13 to £15 and its £25-per-month superfast fibre connections go up by an average of £2.05 from July 3rd. However, BT says it will boost download allowances by 20 percent to make up for it.
From July, monthly line rental direct debits will rise one pound to £18.99 (a 5.5 percent increase), although the Basic £5 rental package for low-income households will stay the same. Call prices have also been been increased across the board, with fixed cost landline calls rising 11.3 percent to 19 pence, UK landline and 0870 numbers jumping from 10.24p to 11p and Anytime UK Calls getting a 55 pence increase to £8.50 a month.
It could be argued that BT is inflating prices to recoup some of the money it is paying for Premier League football rights. Together, BT and Sky spent a record £5.14 billion on securing coverage for the next three seasons. However, BT’s Sport package isn’t immune from the price increases, as the company will charge broadband customers £6 instead of the normal £5 from July.
Last year, BT announced its new pricing tiers in July and then rolled them out in September. However, with an expensive Premier League season set to kick-off at the end of August and a fresh commitment to expanding fibre broadband across the UK, the company appears to have brought its annual hike forward to help finance it all.
“We realise that customers never welcome price rises, but we have again ensured that low-income customers avoid increases. And we continue to highlight money-saving options for all customers,” says John Petter, BT Consumer CEO. “We have also done our best to ensure that all of our customers will get more value if their price is going up, and we know they want faster speeds and better online security from their broadband.”
Source: The Guardian