Today sees the end of pricing controls on British Telecom’s phone line rental.
BT claim that the end of the rules, removed by Ofcom because of greater competition in the telephone market, will enable them to give customers a better deal.
But Simon Moon at This Is Money is not so sure:
Given its long record of stealth rises, I feared the worst. And sure enough, BT has swiftly lived down to expectations. Cuts for the 3m customers on fixed-rate plans will be subsidised by rip-off charges on the 12m customers who use its basic pay-as-you call service. In comes a new 3p-a-time connection fee and back we go to the bad old days of charging by the minute rather than by the second. So a call that lasts one minute and one second will cost twice as much as a call that lasts exactly one minute.
Having a dad who worked for BT for 30 years means that I do have some attachment for the ex-G.P.O. But it increasingly appears as if it is turning into a bit of a dinosaur, and greater competition should be welcomed.