O2 UK Increases Mid-Contract Price Hikes for Mobile Customers UPDATE
Customers of mobile operator O2 may be displeased, if not surprised, to learn that the provider has today followed sibling Virgin Media’s recent increase to their existing mid-contract pricing policy on broadband packages (here), by announcing a similar hike for their own mobile subscribers.
Effective from today, O2 will now apply a new fixed annual price rise to Pay Monthly (airtime) mobile customers of £2.50 every April, which is up from the current rate of £1.80. Elsewhere, O2’s data only MBB (mobile broadband) and Smartwatch customers will continue to receive an annual price increase of 75p (unchanged from last year). Out of bundle charges will also continue to increase by 5% every 1st April.
New and upgrading customers will naturally be informed about this before they enter into a contract with the (new) annual price rise amount. We are currently checking to see how existing customers will be treated. As usual, one of the biggest problems with this approach to mid-contract hikes is that it hits every package in the same way, regardless of whether you’re on a cheaper tariff or a more expensive one (i.e. those on cheaper plans end up being disproportionately impacted).
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An O2 spokesperson told ISPreview:
“With demand for mobile data at an all-time high, we’re introducing a 70p per month increase to annual price rises for O2 customers, effective each April.
An annual rise of £2.50 a month – around 8p a day – continues to represent excellent value for services that customers are using more than ever before. We’ve again frozen prices on handset repayment plans and are investing £700m into our mobile network this year to ensure we meet growing demand and give our customers the fast and reliable connectivity they rely on.
Customers on our social tariffs continue to be exempt from any price changes as part of our efforts to provide support to those who need it most.”
Just for some context. At the start of 2025 Ofcom began requiring UK telecoms providers to adopt a new approach to mid-contract price hikes, which did away with the old percentage and inflation-based model – replacing it with one that must now set out such price rises “clearly and up-front, in pounds and pence, when a customer signs up” (here). This made annual price hikes clearer and more transparent, but as above, not necessarily cheaper.
UPDATE 2:30pm
O2 confirmed to ISPreview that these changes will also apply to existing O2 customers, as well as new and re-contracting customers, from today (although you won’t feel the hike itself until April). The only good news is that O2 will be writing directly to existing customers about this change, and they are being given the right to exit without penalty if they wish.
Price changes are only applied to customers’ airtime plans, with device plans frozen. Customers on their social tariffs will also continue to be exempt from any price increases.
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Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Can they change the increase from what was shared at the time the contract was signed?
I thought the whole point of the new ofcom rules was we know upfront how much our bill will change mid contract.
They can, but the caveat for O2 is that often means making it easy for customers to exit their current contract penalty free.
VMO2’s ambition of raising funds to buy out ALTNETS who are a growing threat to their revenue continues then…..
No doubt many customers will see through this extravagant greed and choose to #defund them by moving to a rival network with MVNO operators e.g. Mozillion and 1p Mobile that use EE network, or another MVNO using a different network.
VMO2 are not buying altnets and aren’t raising money to. Where altnets are competing with them they’re upgrading their cable network to full fibre at a fraction the cost of buying anyone out. Their buying out their competition would be very, very problematic.
The one they bought they did on behalf of nexfibre. The Upp assets are with them now. They didn’t compete with VMO2.
You’re thinking of nexfibre. nexfibre are already funded. A big part of the reason nexfibre exists is for VMO2 to avoid covering more of the UK themselves.
For nexfibre altnets VMO2 compete with at scale are worse value for money than the ones that don’t.
TL;DR this is nothing at all to do with altnets in any way, shape or form. Any cash raised is to upgrade the mobile network and fund XGSPON.
Thanks for BT starting this crap! If only Ofcom had the balls to stop mid contract price hikes.
100% agree. Increases every year is bull however even if they stopped all mid contract price rises it would result in all airtime and sim plans going up by a perminant £3 – £5 per month from the start. Hopefully this increase o2 have announced will be only o2 and other companies dont follow suit
This is why I don’t have a mobilephone contarct (agreement) and us MVNO’s there just as good and cheaper.
Until O2 starts upping rates for the MVNOs…
Although if you pick an MVNO that uses O2 network, you are still funding VMO2 who will put the MVNO contract prices up at renewal and then they pass it on, because they have to….
@FANNY ADAMS, because our government and so-called regulators are gutless and allows companies to do what they want, we have less choice of what networks we use.
It is either EE, which belongs to BT, O2, which belongs to Virgin, while I have had no dealing with Virgin, I have chatted to people who have and heard a lot about them online, and they seem about as bad as BT/Ee and Vodarubbish, who I was with years ago and wish I never had anything to do with them and to be honest, want very little to do with them now. All three of them are useless in one way or another. Sadly, we have little choice if we want a mobile service, three was slightly better.
One reason why I changed to an MVNO, is that I never have to deal with the main networks again, saying that my brother had to deal with Smarty trying to get a new sim, and it was a bit of a hassle, amazing what an email complaining can do, got a new sim right away.
That is the one problem with a lot of MVNOs, because they are so cheap, they have no customer service as such, it is all online, but then vodarubbish customer service is worse than BT if that is possible and that is tlaking to them on a phone. Like running though treacle.
I rerally don’t know what it is with these companies and the lack of customer service, maybe it is befcause a lot of them are based in other countries or that these companies really don;t don’t care about their customers once they are paying the money and stuck in long contracts.
So another reason why I went with MVNOs, no contract on many, plus price.
I have been with Smarty now for over 5 years and apart from a faulty sim at the start, it have been fine, certainly for what I have been paying.
They do email me now and again, about going for more data, but I ignore that, 4GB of data, does me.
We will see what happens, now it is Vodarubbish.
So you can get 12GB for £6.99 but then face a £2.50 increase in April so a 42.8% rise.
They need to ban in contract price rises the inflation increases were nowhere near this bad they completely messed up.
It used to be linked to CPI + extra but it was nowhere near the amounts we’re seeing today.
Sam 42%, just which planet are they on?
Even the likes of Arthur Scargill or the Royal Mail unions are not that optamistic
Just go with 1p mobile privately owned uses EE for network but there is no contracts only 30 day rolling plan’s.
All these price increases getting ridiculous the major networks should be ashamed of themselves
I would always choose a MVNO these days, but I understand why some people don’t, certainly when they may not have the money to buy a phone out right. Myself, I prefer to buy a phone, and go sim only, even if it is a cheap phone, but some people must have an expensive phone and pay though the nose for it. Used to know someone who used to love showing off his new phone, I kept telling him, I don’t care, not interested, as long as I can make calls and send text, then that did me, that was before smartphones like we have not become the norm.
I am the same now, my Oppo was cheap, it was a good phone, certainly for the price. Have to get a new one, so may go cheap again. I can’t find a phone around the price range of my old phone can take 4K video, so I give up,, will just have to take my camera out with me more often
Was looking to get a plan with O2 so I could have access to their 5G SA, but it doesn’t make sense to end the contract paying around 50% more than in would be in the beginning. No new contract then.
So now I’ve gone from £9.17 to £12.17 this month and you’re telling me it’s going to go to £14.67 in 6 months? This is ridiculous O2, I’m not being funny but the cheapest unlimited plans are only 33p more expensive on other networks (granted would I want to use Three yet? probably not).
The good thing is that when they make these changes, you usually can cancel your contract. Take the opportunity while you can.
Walked away from O2 after 38 years a couple of months back.
Sadly now there are only 3 MNOs prices will be hiked to MVNOs especially where they own them – Talkmobile, Giff-Gaff ETC.
Got the email today and they have also increased the O2 switch up period from 90 days to a 11 months cycle on mobiles of which I’ve taken advantage of a few times
So can I cancel my airtime plan and just pay for the phone plan monthly instead, then go SIM only?
So this means that you can leave O2 with out penitly and move to another network but keep paying for your phone with O2.
Is this correct any advise please.
This justifies my decision to leave O2 for Lebara and my 15 gig contract for £6.95 with no price increases. Also, I don’t seem to suffer any degradation in my service quality in London – much better than I was with O2. Surely they will leach customers to the MVNO providers such as giffgaff which piggyback on their networks.
I’ve had an email regarding this, I’ve got 30 days to decide whether to stay with O2 and do nothing, or whether to leave penalty free. I will be leaving, the O2 network is one of the slowest & most unreliable. And yet one of the most expensive.
The greedy practice of these companies is going to far and ofcom are just a corrupt organisation bending the knee for anyone willing to hand them nice backhander
We were always happy with Virgin Media as our airtime mobile provider however we were switched to O2 with the take over and have never been happy with O2 so now they are increasing our monthly bill, we will be leaving O2.
Yet another example of Ofcom actions having unintended effects. The intention was obviously to improve transparency but then lacked any controls or stipulations to avoid what is patently corporate greed.
If the purpose of an industry regulator is to protect consumers from unfair practices that must surely include operators who price gouge without giving anything in return?
The principle of mid contract price increases was to protect businesses from the risk of bearing burden of unsustainable cost increases within the scope of the consumer contract of 24 to 36 months. With some customers facing increases of over 25% above the contracted price this has become a farce. It’s a clear example of exploitative and deceptive practices and it’s amoral. There’s no legitimate reason for them increasing the prices to this degree beyond boosting profits.
Ofcom – thy name is failure.
It’s sad to see that these companies are charging evermore for their services but most normal members of the public will not be bothered, a small percentage will leave and they’ll be some short term pain but they’ll continue to get users.
Most normal customers (the user base in here is very well informed) won’t even know about MVNO’s and what one is, most people will go for what they know or what their friends recommend.
It’s frustrating but a large majority of the customer base will grumble, but stick with it and continue to pay too much.
Every time Ofcom have intervened to make things clearer they made things more expansive. Well done guys, great job!
These new terms are awful. In my part of London O2 are absolutely awful for service, I only switched and stayed for Switch Up, that’s now been as good as killed off. I’m jumping ships, this is absolutely not how they should treat paying customers, particularly when their service wasn’t ever any good to begin with