Uswitch comments on Ofcom’s mobile handset consultation announcement

Commenting on Ofcom’s mobile handset consultation announcement, Richard Neudegg, head of regulation at Uswitch.com, comments: “The depth of analysis conducted by Ofcom highlights the range of consequences faced by mobiles customers falling out of contract. However, the regulator has uncovered some disappointingly poor practices from mobile providers which must be addressed. It is clearly not acceptable that 1.4 million out-of-contract bundled handset customers are paying £182 million a year more than they should.

“Last month, all the big providers signed up to new fairness principles, so it’s a positive step to see Ofcom has already been able to secure voluntary commitments from them to sort this problem for the majority of out-of-contract bundled customers. These steps should resolve the situation for eight in 10 of these customers. However, it should be noted that Three has not yet been willing to make the same commitment as its competitors, and it risks making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

“Ofcom’s raft of proposals for greater transparency in the mobile industry ensures that customers should not suffer from the ‘cost of confusion’ in the future. And these measures announced today go a long way to prevent legacy out-of-contract mobile customers from being out of pocket moving forward.

“However, customers who aren’t tied in to a contract today shouldn’t wait until February 2020, as significant savings can already be made right now by switching to a cheaper tariff or provider.”