Last week, the full scale of the recent broadband price hikes was revealed via the unveiling of a bus-sized bill for over £887 million[1] in Southwark, London. It showcases the huge financial windfall many broadband companies are set to enjoy (e.g. BT, Virgin, Talk Talk and Sky etc.), at the expense of consumers wallets, who are already facing the impact of the cost of living being at its highest rate for ten years.

Over the last couple of the months the major broadband providers, which cover 97% of the market[2], announced that they were increasing their prices mid-contract, in most cases significantly above the rate of rising inflation. On average, consumers annual broadband bills are going up by an average of £2.86 a month, and £34.33 over the course of the year.

25.9 million households are set to be affected[3], and recent research indicates that 60% of the affected customers are unaware their prices are set to increase.[4]

Ofcom rules allow people to switch, penalty free, if hit by mid-contract rises. But because these price rises have been added into the contract ‘small print,’ customers are being prevented from doing so.

Hyperoptic, recent winner of ‘Broadband Provider of the Year;’ believes this is wrong. As well as highlighting the scale of these price hikes with this big bill, it is also launching a petition that calls for freedom for consumers to switch broadband providers – penalty free – whenever they are faced with an unfair price hike: https://www.hyperoptic.com/free-to-switch

Charles Davies, MD ISP, Hyperoptic: “Given the increase in the cost of living, any price rise is hitting already squeezed homes. With rising living costs, our industry could have bucked the trend and helped consumers. Most costs in fixed broadband come from building the network. Once built, the cost of maintaining the infrastructure is much lower. That means our industry can mitigate the impact of inflation, much more so than other industries.

“For this reason, we are calling upon Ofcom to use its current powers to investigate whether these price rises are fair, and allow people to switch mid-contract, penalty free, where price rises are above inflation.”

Hyperoptic has never increased its in-contract prices since its inception over ten years ago.