End landline rip-off for the elderly, BT ordered
TWO million customers who have landline-only contracts with BT are to see their bills slashed by up to £84 a year.
Ofcom, the telecoms watchdog, ordered the price cut, after it found that BT was charging an ‘unacceptable’ amount for the service, which is a lifeline to the elderly and the poor.
Its chief executive Sharon White said: ‘It’s a tax on loyalty. What is striking to me is the nature of the customers who are involved. You’ve got 2million elderly and vulnerable customers who have basically been with BT for years, very few of whom ever shop around. People for whom a landline is a lifeline are being hardest hit, and they are being squeezed in a way which is unacceptable.’
BT charges £18.99 a month for its landline- only service. Once Ofcom’s changes come into force – at the latest by next February – it will have to cut that to £13.99 and possibly as low as £11.99.
The drop will effectively reverse recent price rises imposed by BT, which has nearly 80 per cent of the uK landline markets. An Ofcom investigation found that BT had been increasing charges to customers even though its supply costs have fallen by nearly 30 per cent in the past decade.
The elderly and the poor have been hardest hit. They are the most likely to take landline- only contracts and are the least likely to shop around.
Nearly half of landline-only customers are over 75, and just over a third are from low income households. Only three in ten have ever switched supplier.
The watchdog is consulting BT and cus- tomers on the fairest level for the price cut, and will deliver its final verdict by the end of the year.
BT will then have 30 days to reduce bills. Ofcom does not have the power to impose price cuts on other landline providers, but hopes they will follow BT.
BT said yesterday that it took its responsibilities ‘very seriously’, adding: ‘unlike other companies, We have many customers on special tariffs for the socially excluded or vulnerable. Recently we have frozen the cost of line rental for all of our customers who take a BT phone line.’