A MAJOR mobile firm has confirmed big price hikes for thousands of customers.
Virgin Media O2 is hiking the price of some of its 30 day rolling SIM Only contracts in weeks.
From October 1 prices are set to increase by £3 a month, which works out as an extra £36 a year.
The news will come as a blow to former Virgin Mobile customers who were migrated across to an O2 unlimited plan in 2023.
Virgin Mobile ceased to exist in 2023, so at this time customers were given the choice to move to O2 and get a competitive deal, or exit their contract without a penalty.
Those who moved were put on rolling Sim-only contracts, which include data, minutes and texts, without a handset.
Read more on telecoms firms
These contracts automatically renew each month and provide an ongoing service until you actively cancel it.
There is usually a short notice period of around 30 days.
Some of these customers are currently paying as little as £4 a month for their unlimited airtime plans, so the increase would push up their bill to £7 a month.
Over the course of a year their bill would increase from £48 to £84.
The price increase will only be applied to airtime plans, which means device plans will remain frozen.
It’s important to remember that not every Virgin Media O2 customer will be impacted by the move.
Customers on regular contracts will not be impacted by the price hike.
Affected customers have already been contacted.
A Virgin Media O2 spokesperson said: “We have written to a small proportion of former Virgin Mobile customers, who migrated across to O2 in 2023, to inform them that the cost of their Unlimited airtime plan will increase by £3 a month from 1 October.
“This will align these legacy packages more closely with the wider base of O2 customers, while also continuing to represent excellent value for connectivity that is in greater demand than ever before.”
How to save on broadband and mobile contracts
Consumer reporter Laura McGuire explains how to save on your broadband and mobile bill.
It is not uncommon to see your broadband or mobile contract increase.
This is typical because of pesky mid-term price hikes, which are written into a lot of broadband and mobile phone contracts.
These agreements mean that around April each year, providers can increase what they charge, usually in line with inflation plus an added percentage (for example, Consumer Prices Index inflation + 3.9%).
Since the start of this year, providers have been banned from doing this in percentage terms and will have to include an exact pounds and pence figure in your contract.
But this means customers still have to pay extra.
In the weeks before your contract is up, use comparison sites to familiarise yourself with the deals that are available.
It’s a known fact that new customers always get the best deals.
Sites including MoneySuperMarket and Uswitch all help you customise your search based on price, speed and provider.
This should make it easier to decide whether to renew your contract or move to another provider.
However, if you do not want to switch and are happy with the service you’re getting under your current provider – haggle for a better deal.
You can still make significant savings by renewing your contract rather than rolling on to the tariff you’re given after your deal.
They added that impacted customers can leave their contracts early without a penalty if they wish.
Other price hikes
Virgin Media O2 customers are not the only mobile phone users to be hit with bill hikes.
In July BT, Plusnet and EE announced that customers would be subject to mid-contract price rises.
Anyone on Sim only and Flex Pay plans will see their contracts rise by £2.50 in April, while bundled handset and airtime plan customers will face a £4 rise.
Meanwhile, in February Sky Mobile customers who were out of contract were hit with price rises of £18 a year.
Customers on pay monthly and Sim-only deals saw their monthly bill rise by £1.50 a month.
But those who were still within their contract did not see any price change.
The news comes after Ofcom ordered telecoms firms to display mid contract price rises in the form of pounds and pence from January 17.
Prices are usually hiked every April in line with either the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or Retail Price Index (RPI) measures of inflation plus up to 3.9%.
Under these rules, customers must be shown by their broadband or mobile provider exactly how much their bill is going up by in April.
This is so customers know exactly how much the price of their contract will rise before they take it out, rather than it being linked to future inflation, which can go up or down.
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