Mobile phone bills are set to soar as company fees treble
MOBILE phone bills could rise sharply over the next 12 months as operators pass on increased charges to their customers.
Ofcom is to treble annual license fees from next month
The communications regulator Ofcom is to treble annual licence fees from next month.
Operator EE, which faces the largest increase, said the move was “bad news for consumers and businesses”.
The trebling of fees raises the risk that we won’t be able to invest and innovate at the pace we and our customers would like
The amount companies pay will vary depending on which bandwidth they use. Vodafone and O2 will see their fees increase from £15.6million a year to £49.8million.
Three’s charges will go up from £8.3million to £25million while EE’s fees rise from £24.9million to £75million.
EE has criticised the move by Ofcom
“We think Ofcom has got this wrong,” said an EE spokesman. “The trebling of fees raises the risk that we won’t be able to invest and innovate at the pace we and our customers would like.”
The new fees will be phased in over 12 months.
Dan Howdle, of price comparison site Cable, said: “The fact that Ofcom is phasing in the increase will make it especially difficult to detect when, if and how these costs will be passed on to consumers, either directly or indirectly.”