UK NEWS
TALK TO GET CHEAPER FOR MILLIONS AS BT SPARKS PRICE WAR
By Graham Hiscott, Consumer Journalist Of The Year
MILLIONS of households will benefit from bumper savings on their phone bills after the launch of a new price war
yesterday.
BT threw down the gauntlet to rivals by cutting up to 20 per cent off the cost of some call packages.
The company said more than three million of its customers would benefit by £34million in the coming year.
Millions of other customers on the BT’s Together Option One package have been promised savings if they upgrade to either Option Two or Three.
The move, the second round of price cuts in 10 months, will put pressure on rival home phone providers. Talk Talk, part of the Carphone Warehouse, is expected to make an announcement early next week.
But not everyone will be better off under a raft of changes announced by BT. Those customers who decide against upgrading could be hit with a steep rise in the price of calls.
While the cost of some calls from a landline are coming down, others are set to soar. Calls during the day will rise from 3p to 3.25p a minute for the majority of customers at the start of August.
The company also announced changes when phoning a mobile, with calls during the week cheaper but more expensive at weekends.
But the biggest impact is likely to come with a doubling in the cost of a set-up fee on calls from 3p to 6p. The charges does not apply to all calls. The vast majority of BT’s customers – 11.4 million – are on its Option One package. They
pay line rental of £11 a month plus all calls.
A further 2.4 million households are on Option Two, which normally costs an additional £3.95 a month and includes free landline calls in the evening and at weekends. BT reduced the top-up price to £3.45 yesterday, taking the overall saving since last August to 37 per cent.
A further 834,000 customers are on Option Three, which usually costs an extra £9.95 a month but includes free landline calls at any time. From now on the price will be an extra £7.95 a month.
BT’s aim is to encourage as many Option One customers as possible to upgrade.
As an incentive, those signing up to Option Two for 18 months will not pay any extra for the first year.
Gavin Patterson, managing director of BT’s consumer division, said: “BT is listening to its customers and they have told us they want better value packages.”
BT has been able to unveil the shake-up after being released from price controls which have been in place since privatisation 22 years ago.
Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, said the easing of restrictions last summer was because there was now enough competition in place.
Karen Darby, founder of price comparison website SimplySwitch.com, said BT’s shake-up was great news for consumers.
She said: “With these cuts in place, BT currently tops the tables as the UK’s best value inclusive call-
package provider. However, it won’t be long before rival firms respond.”
Video 
BT
02.06.07, 3:58pm
they are raking it in on the price of the landline many people do not make enough calls to warrant the expensive land line charge + they have just introduced a very nasty piece of bullying by bringing in a £4.50 charge for people not paying by direct debit
• Posted by: syd • Report Comment
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