BT to Raise Line Rental, Call Prices from September

BT has announced a set of price increases on line rental, landline phone calls, and some pay TV extras to take effect 16 September.

The price hikes follow a January 2018 price adjustment on broadband that saw the cost of ADSL and fibre packages increase by between £2 and £2.50 a month.

This time BT is targeting its phone services for price upticks, although given the necessity of line rental for internet services, broadband customers will also suffer. Standard line rental will now cost customers £19.99 a month, up from £18.99, a 5% increase.

Nearly all phone services will see price hikes with weekday calls increasing to 15p/min, international calling increasing to countries in all bands increasing by 5p/min, calls to mobiles increasing 1p to 18p/min, and calls to 0870 and 0845 increasing from 13p/min to 15 p/min.

Outfitting your BT Pay TV package with extra channels will cost more too. You’ll now pay £16 to add Sky Cinema, up from £13.50, and £30 to add Sky Sports, up from £27.50. BT has seemingly added the pennies anywhere they could: customers who prefer to receive paper bills will now pay £3 for the privilege, up from £2.50.

BT claims to be raising prices to support further improvements to services, including the delivery of BT Plus, offering customers fibre broadband and mobile 4G together, and the ‘re-shoring’ of customer service jobs back to the UK. Customers will see the cost of these improvements on their monthly bill.

Ofcom’s regulation against mid-contract price hikes will allow some customers to exit BT contracts without penalty (although you’ll still need to give 30 days notice) but be aware that other providers will be making the similar price increases to support improved coverage and technological advancements.

Lauren Smith

Lauren Smith has worked as a journalist and copywriter for most of the last decade, covering technology, energy, and consumer rights, in the US and UK.

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