KCOM Cancels Scheduled Price Hike

KCOM, a broadband provider serving Hull and the surrounding area, will ditch its contractual price hike this spring to help customers hit by the soaring cost of living.

Like several other ISPs, KCOM recently wrote an annual inflation-linked price hike into its broadband contracts. KCOM customers were supposed to see their bills rise by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation plus 3.9% in March.

But with inflation rocketing—the CPI hit 5.1% in November and is expected to rise still higher when official figures for December and January are released—that meant subscribers were looking at a punishing price hike of at least 9%.

KCOM has therefore cancelled the price hike this year, deciding it doesn’t want to “add to the burden of rising costs that we are experiencing in everything from our utility bills to our shopping baskets,” managing director John Rooney said.

“Hopefully this will help our customers plan their household budgets with more confidence in the next 12 months and also leave a little more money in their pockets to help pay for life’s essentials,” he added.

Rooney also noted that competitors are still planning on implementing contractual inflation-linked price hikes. This is true: other telecoms providers seem to be going ahead with their price hikes for broadband and mobile products this spring.

On 31 March, BT and its brands EE, John Lewis Broadband, and Plusnet will all hike prices by the January CPI (published 16 February) plus 3.9%. 

Vodafone will hand down the same price hike—January CPI plus 3.9%—from April.

TalkTalk will use a similar formula—CPI plus 3.7%—when it adjusts its bills in April. 

Meanwhile, O2 will use the January retail prices index (RPI) plus 3.9% when it tweaks mobile prices in April. The RPI is typically higher than the CPI and in November stood at 7.1% meaning O2 customers will see their bills rise by at least 11%. 

These are all price hikes you can’t dodge by leaving your contract early because they were written into the terms and conditions you agreed to when you signed up.

Meanwhile, KCOM's full-fibre network recently passed 250,000 premises, delivering gigabit broadband across East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.