Helping consumers get better deals: review of pricing practices in fixed broadband
- Start: 14 December 2018
- Status: Statement published
- End: 01 February 2019
We are increasingly reliant on decent broadband to live and work. The Covid-19 crisis has underlined just how dependent we are on home broadband services. Given the importance of broadband and other communications services, it is vital that people are treated fairly by their providers, get a fair deal, and can trust that communications markets operate with integrity.
There is significant choice for broadband customers in the UK, allowing people to pick from a wide range of providers and packages to suit their needs. But we are concerned that not all broadband customers are benefitting from the good deals that are available. Some customers pay high out-of-contract prices when they could save money by signing a new contract with their provider or by switching to a new company. This document sets out further progress we have made to address this problem since we published our initial conclusions report in September 2019.
Main documents
Supporting documents
Ofcom strongly believes customers should get a fair deal for their communication services. We want customers to be able to take advantage of the wide choice of services available and shop around with confidence, so that they can get the best deals for their needs. To help customers to do this, we are imposing new requirements on providers to send important information to their customers when their contracts are coming to an end and on a regular basis after that.
Our new requirements will mean broadband, mobile, home phone and pay TV companies must notify their residential and business customers when their minimum contract period is coming to an end. These notifications will tell residential customers about the best tariffs available from their providers. Business customers will be given best tariff information in a form that is suitable for them. All customers who remain out-of-contract will also be given best tariff information by their provider at least annually.
The changes will involve providers sending personalised and tailored information to millions of individual customers. To make sure they get this right, companies will have nine months to make the necessary changes to their systems and processes. Customers will start receiving the notifications from 15 February 2020.
Our statement sets out in detail the requirements we are placing on companies.
Responses to our consultation on end-of-contact notifications and annual best tariff notifications
Responses
| Responder name | Type |
|---|---|
| BT (PDF File, 653.7 KB) | Organisation |
| Citizens Advice (PDF File, 439.5 KB) | Organisation |
| Collective business response (Verizon, ATT, Gamma, Colt, CenturyLink) (PDF File, 549.6 KB) | Organisation |
| Consumer Communications Panel and ACOD (PDF File, 179.5 KB) | Organisation |
| Decision Tech (PDF File, 497.5 KB) | Organisation |