Original article ISPreview UK:
The UK telecoms regulator has today published their annual Pricing Trends Report for 2026, which among other things confirms that the take-up of cheaper social broadband ISP and mobile tariffs for those on state benefits has jumped to 532,000 customers in June 2025 (up from 506,000 last year). But that’s still just 8.6% of eligible households (e.g. those on Universal Credit) and awareness remains low.
Consumer broadband, phone and mobile services are often considered to be quite reasonably priced in the UK, but there are always those – often people in the most disadvantaged groups (low income, unemployed etc.) – who will struggle with paying their bills. This is being fuelled further by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, which has pushed more people into financial difficulty.
According to Ofcom’s latest data, the proportion of UK households reporting difficulty with affording their fixed broadband services is currently 7% (down from 8%), while 5% (down from 6%) said the same about their mobile phone service.
Sadly, we also noted that between 0.6% and 0.7% of fixed telecoms customers, and 1% and 1.1% of mobile contracts, had missed two or more regular payments between July 2024 and June 2025, similar to the previous two years. Disconnections for non-payment were, however, stable in the first half of 2025, at about 1% for fixed telecoms (around 250,000 customers) and 1.1% for mobile services (around 510,000 mobile contracts).
The previous UK Government and Ofcom responded to this by encouraging more mobile and broadband providers to introduce and promote low-cost Social Tariffs. The regulator suggests that, on average, these could save an eligible household c.£200 per year and cost between £12 and £24 a month for broadband or £10 to £12 for mobile (less than comparable commercial products).
A fair number of providers now offer Social Tariff plans, but awareness remains an issue. The latest report states that 70% of eligible households continue to be unaware that such tariffs exist, which is actually up from 69% last year. “We asked those eligible for social tariffs and who were aware of them where they had first heard of them. Social media (17%), friends and family (17%), and TV (15%) were the top ways in which people had found out about social tariffs. We continue to call on providers to promote their social tariffs,” said Ofcom.
In terms of take-up, BT has offered such a tariff for the longest and has the largest share of broadband customers on one, accounting for 64% of all fixed broadband social tariff connections. This is followed by Sky Broadband (24%), Virgin Media O2 (6%), Vodafone (4%), and KCOM (2%). TalkTalk is still the only major broadband ISP NOT to offer a social tariff.
The overwhelming majority of social tariff take-up is in the fixed broadband market, with only 3% of social tariff take-up for mobile. The lower take-up on mobile is likely to reflect the wide availability of low-cost standard SIM-only and pre-pay deals, which in some cases may actually be cheaper than the social tariffs on offer elsewhere.
Ofcom also briefly touches on the impact of their new pricing requirements, which since the start of 2025 (here) has required broadband and mobile providers to “set these out clearly and up-front, in pounds and pence” (as opposed to the old percentage and inflation-based formula methods). One of the problems with this is that it has resulted in many people on cheaper packages being hit by the same flat-rate hikes as those on more expensive plans, meaning those who pay less get hit by disproportionately big price hikes.
However, Ofcom says “there is not yet sufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions about the impact of the tariffs introduced by providers to comply with the new rules on overall bills or customer engagement”, which is said to be because only a limited proportion of customers were on contracts with the new policy applied during their data gathering period. A full assessment of the new rules will thus take place in 2027.
The full 102-page report also includes a plenty of other interesting highlights and we’ve summarised a few of the key findings below.
Details from Ofcom’s 2026 Pricing Trends Report
Prices for faster broadband and data‑rich mobile services are declining
➤ Lower prices are encouraging the take-up of faster broadband services. Prices for dual-play (fixed broadband and fixed voice) bundles with superfast (advertised speed 30-299 Mbit/s) and ultrafast (≥300 Mbit/s) broadband products fell at a faster rate than those with standard broadband (<30 Mbit/s) in the year to September 2025. Separately, analysis of average standalone broadband prices for five different speed tiers finds that prices fell in real terms for all but the slowest (<30 Mbit/s) speed tier year on year. In many cases, customers can switch to a faster, more reliable full-fibre broadband service and pay the same, or less, than they currently do for a copper or part-fibre service.
➤ Mobile phone airtime prices continue to fall as customers get more data for less. The price of a basket of mobile services based on average usage and prices in 2025 was 6% lower in real terms than the price of the equivalent basket using 2024 usage and prices. From 2020 to 2025, the cost of this average-use basket fell by 20%, despite average data use more than doubling. The prices of tariffs with over 10 GB of inclusive data per month fell between 2024 and 2025, while prices of tariffs with less data included increased. Analysis of customer spend data shows that most people are paying less for their mobile services and/or getting more value through larger data allowances and/or additional benefits.
➤ Overall, the UK ranked third for communications prices in 2025, compared to France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the US. Among these countries, the UK had the lowest triple-play (fixed broadband, fixed voice and TV) bundle prices (out of the four countries offering these services), the second-lowest standalone mobile prices, the third-lowest overall standalone broadband and fixed voice prices, and was ranked fourth overall for dual-play bundles.
New Ofcom rules are giving customers clarity and certainty about what they will pay for a service
➤ From January 2025, providers have been required to set out any mid-contract price rises clearly in pounds and pence before a customer signs up. Our initial assessment suggests that the rules are providing greater clarity on what customers will pay at the point of sale, making it easier for them to compare the prices of services.
➤ In-contract price rises announced for 2026 range from between £1.80 and £2.50 for mobile services and £2 and £4 for fixed broadband. There is not yet sufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions about the impact of the tariffs introduced by providers to comply with the new rules on overall bills or customer engagement. This is because, in March/April 2025 – when the first such increases were applied – only a limited proportion of customers were on contracts with the new fixed annual pounds and pence increase terms. We will publish a full assessment of the impact of the new rules in 2027.
Most out-of-contract customers can save money by re-contracting or switching provider
➤ In-contract customers typically pay less than out-of-contract customers. This was the case for most standalone services and bundle types, with average in-contract customer savings ranging from £7 to £9 per month for standalone broadband, dual-play (fixed broadband and fixed voice), and triple-play (fixed broadband, fixed voice, and pay TV) bundles.
➤ Switching or re-contracting enables customers to reduce their bills with little effort. The difference between the promoted prices (paid by in-contract customers) and list prices (paid by out-of-contract customers) for dual-play bundles ranged from £4 for those with standard broadband to £8 for those with ultrafast broadband, indicating that savings are available for those who act when their contract ends. Over two million households have used the new, simplified, One Touch Switch broadband switching process since its launch in September 2024, and the Auto-Switch process makes it quick and easy for people to switch their mobile provider with a simple text message.
Customers can reduce what they pay by making changes to their services
➤ Bundled services: Buying communications services together in a bundle, rather than separately, remains cheaper for most households. Our analysis of the prices of services for four ‘typical’ household types found that bundling was cheaper for three of them, providing average monthly savings ranging from £26 to £48 (25% to 37%).
➤ Mobile airtime: SIM-only plans are gaining in popularity, accounting for half of pay-monthly subscriptions in June 2025. While pay-monthly tariffs offer lower prices for those requiring larger amounts of data, pre-pay can offer better value for those requiring 2 GB of data per month or less, with monthly savings of up to £2 or 19%.
➤ Mobile handsets: It can be significantly more expensive to buy a handset and airtime together from a mobile provider than to buy a SIM-only service and use it with a separately purchased handset. A comparison of plans including an iPhone 17 finds that it can typically cost over £8 per month more on average to acquire the handset in this way (or £200 over a 24-month contract).
➤ Fixed voice: In Q2 2025, 70% of households which bought their broadband and fixed voice together did not make an outgoing call. Many of these customers could save by switching to a standalone broadband service, which typically costs about £7 a month less than broadband with a landline.
➤ Pay TV: Taking a traditional pay TV service (such as those offered by Sky and Virgin Media) as part of a bundle has become cheaper. The estimated average monthly list price of pay TV when bought in a triple-play bundle declined by 15% to £21 in real terms in the year to September 2025, while the average promoted price fell by 23% to £12.
➤ SVoD: Prices rose for Netflix, Disney+ and Apple TV in the year to September 2025, while NOW Entertainment and Amazon Prime Video’s prices were unchanged in nominal terms (and fell in real terms). Most SVoD services offer rolling monthly subscriptions which offer users flexibility in the services they take, and some have ad-supported plans at lower prices.
Shopping around can identify cheaper providers
➤ Smaller providers and budget brands frequently offer lower prices. In the four years to September 2025, the largest operators’ main brands tended to be more expensive than smaller providers’ for dual-play superfast fixed broadband and fixed voice bundles, and SIM-only mobile services.
➤ Lower prices are often available in areas where newer full-fibre providers have a presence. As a market entry strategy, altnets offering retail services often set lower prices than established broadband providers to attract customers. Our analysis suggests that, over the past year, prices offered by larger established providers have fallen.
Fixed broadband switching has increased, and most customers are happy with their current deal
➤ Overall switching levels are stable, with a quarter of UK homes having changed provider for at least one communications service in the past year. Eighteen per cent of broadband customers have switched provider, up by 4pp since 2023 as the availability and choice of full-fibre services has increased, and supported by the ‘One Touch Switch’ process. Mobile switching has remained steady, and pay TV switching has grown. Our research also shows that 35% of households engaged with the market in the past year by negotiating a new deal with their current provider or making changes to one or more of their existing service/s.
➤ Switching rates are lower for older consumers and those in lower socio-economic groups. Only 19% of over-64s had switched any service in the last 12 months compared to 29% of 25-44s, while 21% of those in DE households had switched any service compared to 27% of those in AB households. This may be partly due to lower confidence in engaging with the market: our consumer research shows that older people and those in lower socio-economic groups were less confident in comparing the costs of various deals.
➤ Most broadband, fixed voice, mobile, TV, and/or dual-and triple-play bundle customers are happy with their current deal. Most feel confident they are on the best deal for them and say they would stay put even if savings were possible. Many people say the amount they pay for their service is small compared to other household bills and/or believe the gains from switching would be too small to justify the effort. These attitudes help explain the stable switching levels seen for some services, including for mobile, despite increased choice and easier switching.
Social tariff use is rising, but take-up remains low
➤ The choice of social tariffs has increased. Broadband social tariff options had grown from just three in 2020 to more than 30 by December 2025. These offer broadband for £12.50 to £24 a month and mobile for £10 to £12 a month. Low-cost standard SIM-only deals are also available and in some cases are cheaper than the available social tariffs.
➤ More people are taking up social tariffs. In June 2025, 532,000 customers were using a fixed or mobile broadband social tariff, an annual increase of 26,000 (5%). However, awareness and take-up are a challenge: 70% of eligible households were unaware of social tariffs in October 2025, and take-up is low as a proportion of eligible households (less than 9%).
➤ Customer arrears, disconnections, and debt have remained low and stable over the past three years. Seven per cent of fixed broadband households and 5% of those with a mobile phone found it difficult to afford their service in October 2025. Between 0.6% and 0.7% of fixed telecoms customers, and 1.0% and 1.1% of mobile contracts, had missed two or more regular payments between July 2024 and June 2025, similar to the previous two years. Disconnections for non-payment were also stable in the first half of 2025, at about 1.0% for fixed telecoms (around 250,000 customers) and 1.1% for mobile services (around 510,000 mobile contracts).
Finally, a quick reminder. We know social tariffs can be a divisive topic for some, but that is not an excuse to abuse the comment system in order to post offensive remarks toward those who take state benefits. Such posts are against our rules and will be removed.
