BT to increase call charges by 10%

BT has announced it will hike call charges by 10% and monthly line rental by 50p from the beginning of October.

This means the cost of connecting a call will increase from 9.9p to 10.9p, and daytime rates will go up from 5.9p to 6.4p. Landline rental charges meanwhile will rise to £13.29 per month, or £12.04 for customers who receive bills by e-mail.

Customers who sign up to a twelve-month line rental contract however will avoid the increase, as part of a bid to encourage customers to sign up to longer-term deals and special packages.

The telecoms giant said it estimated the changes would cost customers 1p a day, as the average customer makes only 80 seconds of daytime calls each day and more than half of customers purchase inclusive packages.

A spokesperson for BT said: 'TalkTalk and others may criticise the BT price changes, but past experience shows they will probably mirror our changes in the near future'.

He added that BT is happy to discuss the savings customers could make by opting for an inclusive calling plan.