Original article ISPreview UK:
Mobile and broadband provider Vodafone (inc. Three UK) is preparing to follow BT (inc. EE and Plusnet), Virgin Media and O2 by becoming the latest telecoms provider to increase the customer cost impact of their existing mid-contract pricing policy, which will be introduced on 9th November 2025 for Three UK and 12th for Vodafone. But existing customers are safe, for now.
Just to recap. At the start of 2025 Ofcom began requiring telecoms providers to adopt a new approach to mid-contract price hikes, which did away with the old percentage and inflation-based model – replacing it with one that sets out such price hikes “clearly and up-front, in pounds and pence, when a customer signs up” (here). This made annual price hikes clearer and more transparent, but not necessarily cheaper.
NOTE: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) level of inflation started the year at 3% (Jan 2025) and has since crept up to 3.8%. But last year it was originally forecast to be closer to 2% by now and many telecoms providers will have initially set their policies based, in part, on that expectation.
In response, many providers later followed BT’s lead by setting out a new pricing policy that would increase the monthly price that broadband customers pay by a flat £3 extra from March or April each year (this can vary a bit between providers). However, inflation has remained higher than originally anticipated and, partly as a result of that, BT (inc. EE and Plusnet), Virgin Media and O2 have since announced that they would increase their annual hikes (e.g. both BT and Virgin increased it from £3 to £4 on their broadband plans).
The latest provider to join this club is Vodafone, which today informed ISPreview that they will be taking a slightly different approach to the above when their latest pricing policy change is introduced for new customers from 12th November 2025. In short, fixed broadband packages will now rise by £3.50 annually (up from £3 under the old policy), while SIM-Only Basics plans will rise by £1.50 (up from £1) and other SIM-Only products (inc. handset airtime, mobile broadband) will rise by £2.50 (up from £1.80).
A spokesperson for Vodafone told ISPreview:
“We know no one likes price rises, but they are essential for us to keep investing, innovating and providing best-in-class service. This year we launched Just Ask Once which means one specialist owns your query in the My Vodafone app and keeps you updated until it’s sorted. While VeryMe Rewards in the app continues to bring weekly treats, discounts and prize draws. There are no price increases for customers registered as financially vulnerable or those on our social tariffs — Vodafone Essentials and VOXI For Now.”
There are no price increases for customers registered as financially vulnerable or those on our social tariffs, such as Vodafone Essentials and VOXI For Now.
A different approach for Three UK
The changes for Three UK will actually come first, on 9th November 2025, and are a bit different because pre-merger the operator adopted a fairer approach. Just to recap, the existing policy advises customers that, each April, their Monthly Charge will increase by a fixed amount depending on their plan’s data allowance: “Plans 4GB or less & Smartwatch Pairing Plans will increase by £1.00 per month. Plans from 5GB to 99GB will increase by £1.25 per month. Plans 100GB or over will increase by £1.50 per month. All Home Broadband plans will increase by £2.00 per month.”
The changes coming on the 9th mean that new customers will now see a fixed mid-contract price rise starting from £1.80 for mobile and £3.50 for home broadband. At sign-up, customers will see the exact cost of their plan — in pounds and pence — and the date any change will apply, so they know upfront what they’ll pay over the full term.
The catch with adopting a single rise of £1.80 for mobile is that they penalise those consumers on cheaper packages, as this doesn’t scale like their previous policy. But the change does more closely align Three UK with Vodafone now that they’re part of one group.
One other key point to make, for both Three UK and Vodafone, is that they will not be following by O2’s poor example and imposing this change on existing customers with current plans. At present this change only impacts new customers, although of course existing customers that optionally choose to upgrade (re-contract) to a different plan in the future may still be hit.
NOTE: The information above only relates to consumer and SoHo plans.
Closing Thoughts
Annual price hikes are of course nothing new in this market, as well as many others. Often there are legitimate reasons for prices to go up, not least because providers are frequently adding all sorts of new services (e.g. 5G SA, FTTP), developing new systems, facing higher charges from suppliers and energy, implementing costly new Ofcom rules and dealing with tax hikes from the government etc.
Nevertheless, there is a growing feeling that broadband and mobile providers are becoming increasingly unfair in their pricing practices, and often hitting those who can least afford it the hardest. So far, Ofcom’s policy has thus succeeded in making mid-contract price hikes more transparent for consumers, albeit seemingly at the same time forcing them to pay more – often way above the current and forecast levels of CPI inflation.
However, the Government did this week direct Ofcom to review their approach (here), which many people may be hoping leads to a better solution and possibly one that even bans mid-contract hikes. But history tends to show that we often end up with policies that end up creating more problems than they solve. Perhaps this time will be different.
