Phone giants take £1bn hit on price hike ban threat

MORE than £1 billion was wiped from the value of Britain's biggest phone contract providers today after Ofcom said it planned to ban inflation-linked price rises mid-way through contracts amid a crackdown on practices that it said cause "harm" to consumers.

- Simon Hunt

The media and telecoms regulator said it would lay out fresh rules requiring that any price written into a customer's contract would need to be set out in pounds and pence, prominently and transparently, at the point of sale, rather than by using complicated terms like CPI and RPI.

"Inflation-linked mid-contract price rise terms can cause substantial amounts of consumer harm by complicating the process of shopping for a deal, limiting consumer engagement, and making competition less effective as a result," Ofcom said.