Vodafone Increases Prices For Out Of Contract Customers

Just two weeks after refreshing its plans for small businesses and abolishing roaming charges across Europe, Vodafone is hiking prices for out of contract customers.

As reported by the FT, the Newbury-based operator will apply additional charges of between 50p and £3.50 per month. Because the customers in question are out of contract, they can exit their deal without penalty or negotiate a new tariff.

“We can confirm that some pay monthly customers, who are out of contract, will see an increase of between 50p and £3.50 per month depending on their price plan,” a spokesperson confirmed to Silicon.

Vodafone price increases

“They can move at any time to one of our new plans which give them unlimited texts, more or unlimited calls, far more data as well as our new roaming offers.  All they need to do is call us on 191 or visit our website.”

Operators are within their rights to raise bills mid-contract in line with inflation but not to hike prices on a whim or remove benefits (such as reducing allowances) in a manner that could be construed as a price increase.

Earlier this month, Vodafone said it would let all subscribers use their call, text and data allowances in 40 European countries.

Most of the territories covered are members of the EU, or dependencies of those nations, while others are enclaves or members of the European Economic Area (EEA). Switzerland has bilateral agreements with the EU, while Vodafone has a network in Turkey.

In addition, business and consumers will be able to roam in 60 more countries for £5 a day.

Meanwhile, Vodafone’s new SMB plans are designed for organisations with up to nine employees and include malware protection, data packages of up to 60GB roaming allowances, data capping and even four hour phone replacement with ‘Vodafone Rapid’.

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