Tesco Mobile UK Gives Away Free Unlimited Off-Peak Calls

The mobile wing of Supermarket giant Tesco, Tesco Mobile, has today announced that they’re giving free “unlimited” evening and weekend calls to all 5.2 million of their customers, which is intended to help them stay connected with their loved ones during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.

The change for both Pay-As-You-Go and Pay Monthly customers will go live from 8pm today. On top of that they’re also offering “free access” to support websites (via mobile broadband), including NHS and government guidance (see the full list here), without using your data allowance.

We should point out that Tesco Mobile is based off a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement with O2, which means that their promotions are similar to that of their parent. As such the “free access” to support sites is also subject to the same caveat as we see on other operators, which means that they can’t zero rate data usage for any third-party content that gets pulled into those sites (e.g. Java libraries, YouTube videos etc.).

Tom Denyard, CEO of Tesco Mobile, said:

“At Tesco Mobile we always want to support our customers in the most helpful way. In these unprecedented times we’ve seen a huge increase in our customers using their minutes allowance with relatively little change to data usage or text messaging, so free minutes felt the best way to help all of our customers right now. We wanted everyone to have a chance to talk to their loved ones for free each day, especially the most vulnerable and those in isolation. We put our customers first and know that now, more than ever, every little helps.”

Last week Tesco Mobile also confirmed that it will not be raising tariff prices mid-way through a customer’s contract, as part of its Tariff Promise.