Labour calls for crackdown on rip-off UK Christmas broadband and mobile ads

Labour has called on the advertising watchdog to fast-track new rules to protect consumers from misleading marketing that could encourage them sign up to mobile and broadband deals this Christmas that will cost them hundreds of pounds more than they expected.

Telecoms companies make billions of pounds annually by instituting price rises to mobile and broadband bills midway through contract periods, but this is not always made clear when customers sign up for deals.

Companies including BT and Vodafone have said they will continue to use a mechanism to raise prices annually by the rate of inflation as measured by the consumer prices index (CPI) in January, plus 3.9%.

With inflation currently running at a 41-year high of 11.1% this means that customers signing up for a new two-year contract offered in some deals currently available over the Christmas period could find themselves paying up to £240 more than they thought.

Other issues include promoting deals just before annual price increases are introduced each April, so consumers only get an offer for a very limited time.

Labour has said that if it is elected there will be a crackdown on mid-contract price increases, pointing out that broadband and mobile are the only utility sectors in which they are allowed.

In sectors such as energy and gas suppliers cannot increase prices mid-contract unless there is a change in VAT rates.