TalkTalk announces price hike
TalkTalk announced on its website last week that it will be raising the price of its monthly line rental and calls for residential customers as of 1 October.
The new rates mean that monthly line rental will increase by 55p, from £11.49 to £12.04, bringing it in line with the BT price rise that was announced on 19 July.
Customers that aren't on a fully inclusive 'anytime' call tariff will now be charged at 6.4 pence per minute for daytime calls, up from 5.8p. One-off standing charges for late or declined payment fees are also increasing, up from £7.50 to £10.
The cost of moving a connection mid-contract will also now attract a £49.99 fee, a rise of 66 percent from the previous level at £29.99. Subscribers to TalkTalk's Mobile Extra service will also see a monthly fee increase of £1.01, from 45p to £1.46. Out of package calls that currently incur a 9.9p connection charge will be rising to 10.9p.
The reason behind the price hike — the second since June 2010 — is to "ensure that we're providing best value, but doing it at a price that's right for our business. Obviously we don't like raising prices but from time to time we need to do it" Mark Schmid, TalkTalk communications director, told ZDNet UK on Wednesday.
The 50p increase in line rental is the same amount as the proposed 'broadband tax' that was opposed by TalkTalk and subsequently shelved.
"We think this tax is an unfair, regressive and a wasteful way of funding super-fast broadband which would deliver less benefit than it will cost, slow superfast broadband rollout and drive around 200,000 homes off broadband, " said a statement on the company's blog on 24 March.
However, Schmid says that drawing comparisons between price rises in its telephone service and the proposed broadband tax is inaccurate as the two are unrelated.
"What the government was proposing was a tax, rather than a price increase and this tax would apply in addition to the price increases... We certainly haven't raised our prices because the tax hasn't come into effect. The fact that the broadband tax hasn't come in – which we're all delighted about – doesn't have any effect on those price rises," Schmid told ZDNet UK.
BT recently announced similar price rises which are due to come into effect on 1 October.
The telecoms giant justified the increase by saying that "basically, it's to ensure that we can offer discounts and competitive pricing going forward, it's so we can stay competitive in these recessionary times", a company spokesperson told ZDNet UK at the time.