Posted: 22nd Mar, 2011 By: MarkJ


The cost of making UK phone calls over a fixed telephone line looks set to rise again after BT announced a series of
new price hikes, which will become effective from
28th April 2011. Both calls and line rental will be affected and at a time when many people are already suffering due to the financial crisis, job losses and higher living costs.
Standard
line rental will be the first to jump, rising from £13.60 inc. VAT per month to £13.90. The cost of a
UK landline call will also increase by 0.6p to 7.6p per minute, with the
call connection fee going from 11.5p to 12.5p. TalkTalk has already moved to match some of BT's adjustments and others are sure to follow.
The move comes only a few short months after BT introduced a similar level of price hikes during last October 2010 (
here), when UK landline rental increased by 50p a month and other call charges were also raised.
At least some of BT's effort appears designed to make their latest
bundles and longer contract deals seem more attractive, yet it could also price some customers off standalone alternatives. This is all despite our September 2010 survey (
here) showing that
64.8% of respondents would still rather adopt a standalone service than be tied down to a bundle.
Many other ISPs and telephone providers are expected to match BT's move, although some will try to avoid it.