VMO2 Finds UK Broadband and Mobile Amongst the Cheapest in Europe

Broadband ISP and mobile giant Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) have today published the results of a new Assembly Research study, which examined the value of telecoms services in the UK compared to other major countries and found that “typical UK prices for fixed and mobile services are amongst the lowest in Europe“.

The ongoing cost-of-living crisis will no doubt be foremost in everybody’s minds and pockets. Some of the biggest price rises over the past 1-2 years have been seen in energy utilities like gas and electricity, although annual price hikes from major broadband and mobile providers have also played their part (most big operators hiked these by around 9-10% earlier this year).

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. FTTP, 5G), developing new systems, facing higher charges from suppliers (energy, lease costs etc.), paying higher wages, implementing new Ofcom rules and consumers are also gobbling significantly more data every year.

Broadly speaking, the goal of this report – ‘The value of telecoms services in the UK‘ (PDF) – seems to be to highlight how, despite the current climate, broadband and mobile services remain very good value for money. The UK also continues to have some of the most affordable services in Europe, and you get more broadband speed and data for your £ today than ever before.

Key Highlights

➤ The fiercely competitive UK telecoms market has created choice and quality for consumers. Operators have been investing ~£2.5bn a year in mobile networks and around £3.8bn in fixed.

Average monthly mobile data usage has trebled in the last five years, while fixed data consumption per capita has increased almost three-fold. At the same time, average fixed broadband download speeds have increased 72% since 2017, while the price per Mbps has fallen 39% over the same period.

➤ UK telcos offer some of the best overall value when compared internationally. Average monthly household spend on telecoms services has fallen by nearly a fifth since 2017, making the UK the second cheapest country in our study.

When considering broadband prices relative to usage per capita, the UK consistently performs best among our comparator countries. In short, UK consumers pay lower prices for the data they consume compared with their international peers.

➤ Average spend on telecoms services represents a small and declining share of total household outgoings sitting at just 3.8%. Even after recent contractual price rises are factored in, telecoms makes up just 0.7%
of the UK’s inflation rate and only 0.04 percentage points of the recent rise.

Were telecoms prices rising as fast they have been in energy, the average monthly bill would soon hit £400. Even after the Government’s £2,500 Energy Price Guarantee, monthly household spend on telecoms services would have gone above £150 from October 2022, compared to £77.40 at the end of 2021.

➤ Operators have become more understanding and supportive towards those that cannot afford their bills. After making available more than £940m of support during the coronavirus pandemic, once the cost of living crisis started to bite several proactively launched (or improved) discounted social tariffs for broadband (typically costing just £15-20 per month).

Most mobile operators are also contributing to a data bank initiative to protect against digital exclusion. Meanwhile, long-running reward schemes continue to provide extra value for consumers at no incremental cost.

However, it’s worth noting that a lot of the data in this report comes from the 2020/21 period, which is thus largely reflecting the period BEFORE the current cost-of-living crisis reached its peak. This is easy to see when you examine the table for average household spend, where energy (4.8%) is only just in front of telecoms (3.8%), which is a much smaller gap than will exist today (energy will probably be closer to ‘food’ now).

Matthew Howett, Founder of Assembly Research, said:

“There has been a long-held belief that the UK is one of the most competitive and affordable telecoms markets. By collecting robust evidence from credible sources and from countries the UK is most often compared to, we can confidently now say that belief holds true.

Putting that spend in context relative to other essential outgoings confirms the real value consumers are getting. While that may be of limited comfort to those really feeling the cost of living pinch right now, the ongoing additional support the sector has been providing, particularly since the pandemic, should help see households through the uncertainty we are all navigating.”

Lutz Schüler, CEO of Virgin Media O2, said:

“There is no doubt consumers are receiving exceptional value from our services – over the last decade it’s very clear they’re getting more and using more while paying less. The continued investment we make in expanding and upgrading networks has unlocked a tidal wave of consumption and heralded an age of unconstrained connectivity.

Despite the exceptional value we offer, we know in a cost-of-living crisis there will be people struggling to afford our services, which is why we’re stepping up to support those who need it and ensuring that everyone can get the connectivity they need and deserve.”

Overall, we can’t blame the operator for wanting to take control of the narrative and accentuate the positives for once, particularly after they’ve come under so much sustained fire from Ofcom, the government and already hard-pressed consumers. But we suspect those positives will soon be forgotten once the next round of annual price hikes starts to be unveiled in the very near future.