- One of the UK’s biggest telecoms firms has announced plans to increase bills
- The new charges kick in from 1 April and will mean millions must pay more
Sky has unveiled price hikes averaging 6.7 per cent on most of its broadband, phone and pay TV deals from 1 April.
The news follows similar announcements that BT, EE, Three and other firms would be increasing broadband and mobile prices by up to 7.9 per cent.
Sky said the price rises were needed to provide faster broadband and better TV, as well as reflecting the firm’s own increased costs.
Sky has around 3 million mobile customers, 6 million broadband users and 12.7 million TV subscribers.
Communication costs: The price of the airtime part of Sky mobile bills will rise from April
Sky chief operating officer Devesh Raj said: ‘We’re always listening to our customers, so we know that delivering the best Sky experience, whether that’s the technology we create, the content we deliver, or the customer service we provide, is what matters most to them.
‘To continue to do this, from 1 April, most of our TV and broadband customers will see a monthly increase to the cost of their package, with the average increase across our products being 6.7 per cent.
‘We have worked hard to keep our prices as low as possible.’
Exactly how much your broadband, phone or pay TV deal’s price will rise will vary, as the 6.7 per cent figure is just an average.
Sky will be writing to all affected customers in the next few weeks to give exact figures for any tariff increases.
Sky’s social tariffs will not be increasing in price.
A social tariff is a cheap deal only available to struggling households.
These deals are not open to all, and are mostly restricted to those on benefits, lower incomes or the elderly.
How do these price hikes compare?
Most broadband and mobile customers will see price rises this year.
The majority of firms increase their prices between March and May each year, in line with consumer price index (CPI) inflation in December of the year before. They also often add up to 3.9 per cent on top.
The Office for National Statistics said CPI inflation was 4 per cent in December 2023.
For mobile customers, the part of their bill that rises is the airtime element – the cost of calls and data.
However, Sky is the only major telecoms company not to follow the inflation-linked model, instead setting its own rate for any increase every year.
Virgin Media O2 bases its price rises on January’s inflation figures. However, the firm uses retail price index inflation figures to do so, not CPI inflation, which tends to be lower.
