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See how much you could saveNew mobile price hikes: How much will your network be raising prices in 2025?
Find out how the new rules about mid-contract price rises will impact your contract, and which providers won't increase prices
From today, mobile networks will no longer be allowed to use inflation or percentage-based increases to calculate mid-contract price rises for customers.
The new rules follow a Which? campaign to provide more certainty about the total price of a contract. Networks must now clearly state in pounds and pence how much a contract will increase across its duration, allowing customers to make an informed choice of provider, and more easily compare different deals.
However, while the big four (EE, O2, Three and Vodafone) are pressing ahead with price rises under the new rules, plenty of other networks offer fixed price commitments, or 30 day contracts you can leave easily if they increase. Read on to find out how much mobile network prices are increasing in 2025 and how you can avoid them.
See where your provider ranks in our guide to the best and worst mobile networks.
Which mobile networks are raising prices in 2025?
Our longstanding advice is to look beyond the largest networks to get the cheapest deals. This will continue to be true with the new rules as it’s the biggest networks that are continuing to use mid-contract price rises:
| Provider | Sim-only price rise (per month) | Date new policy was introduced |
| BT | £1.50 | 10 April 2024 |
| EE | £1.50 (bundled contracts £4) | 10 April 2024 |
| O2 | £1.80 | Existing and new customers moved by 9 January 2025 |
| Tesco Mobile ¹ | Depends on contract price | 12 August 2024 |
| Three ² | £1 - £1.50 | 8 September 2024 |
| Vodafone | £1 (basic) £1.80 (standard) | 2 July 2024 |
¹ Tesco Mobile - non-Clubcard customers will face ‘proportional’ increases in pounds and pence, equivalent to 6% of contract cost
² Three - Sim only depending on data allowance: 4GB or less £1, 5GB to 99GB £1.25, 100GB or more £1.50 a month
Customers have often been with these networks for many years, being hit with wave after wave of price increases. If this is your situation, it’s worth looking around to see if you can save money with a different network.
How will my mobile prices change in 2025?
If you're a customer of one of these providers, bear in mind that the new pounds and pence price increases apply to those who started a new contract after the date the new policy was introduced, as detailed in the table above.
If your contract started before these dates, you will instead receive the previous type of inflation-based price increase, using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate:
- BT Mobile - December CPI rate published in January plus 3.9%
- EE - December CPI rate published in January plus 3.9%
- Three - December CPI rate published in January plus 3.9%
- Vodafone - December CPI rate published in January plus 3.9%
O2 customers should have all been migrated already, so will now be subject to the £1.80 price rise under the new rules.
Looking to cut your monthly costs? Read our 10 ways to save money on your mobile phone bill.
Networks with the biggest price increases
While price increases from networks may seem fairly small, ranging from £1 to £1.80 a month for Sim-only contracts, the impact may vary quite a lot between customers.
Only Three and Tesco Mobile differentiate between contract cost, where increases are more proportionate to the amount paid each month. Customers with other providers on cheaper, low data contracts will face the same price rise as those on unlimited data deals. It's therefore important to weigh the contract cost carefully against alternatives, as low-data deals in particular can be found extremely cheaply on rival networks.
And if you're an EE customer on a bundled contract (where the phone and Sim cost are bundled together) you'll pay £4 extra under the new increases, compared to £1.50 for those on 'split' contracts, where these are priced separately.
Frustrated by your bills increasing? Changing your mobile provider is easier than ever. Find out more in our guide on how to switch mobile provider.
Which networks promise not to increase prices?
The good news is that the mobile network market is as competitive as ever. There’s an array of smaller networks offering cheap deals and loads of data as they attempt to stand out, and many commit not raise their prices mid-contract:
- Giffgaff - no increases on 18 months plans
- Honest Mobile - prices decrease rather than increase, up to a total of 5% each year, with a maximum reduction of 30%
- iD Mobile - Sim-only prices are frozen, as are device contracts for new customers, until an unspecified but possible increase in April 2026
- Lycamobile - committed to no price increases until at least 2026
- Mozillion - Sim-only and phone contracts are fixed priced for the duration
- Spusu - prices frozen until January 2026
Other providers don’t have price increases built into their contracts, but they also don’t have a price freeze as such. They will give you at least 30 days notice if prices are going up, and you can then switch to a different network without penalty:
Having an eSim instead of a physical Sim card could save you time and money, find out more in our guide to mobile phone eSims: what is an eSim and how does it work?
Five questions to ask yourself before getting a new mobile contract
Before agreeing to a new contract, think about these questions to check you are getting what you need and not paying too much.
- Can I haggle with my current network? Networks don’t like losing customers to their rivals, which gives you leverage to negotiate a better price or increased perks with your current provider. If you still aren’t happy, you can switch mobile provider.
- How much data do I actually use? Most people rarely use all the data they are paying for. It’s likely you need less than you think. Find out how to keep track of your mobile data and minutes.
- Where and how often will I be travelling? A generous free EU roaming allowance and cheap roaming when further afield may or may not be important to you. Read our guide on how to save money on mobile roaming charges to see how picking the right network could help you cut your bills.
- Do I need the latest flagship phone? The newest iPhone, Galaxy S or Pixel phone is undoubtedly an amazing piece of technology, but you can find very capable alternatives for a fraction of the price. Find out how to choose the best mobile phone.
- Which network has the best signal in my area? Signal strength, download speeds and network dropouts can vary dramatically between different regions. It’s worth trying different networks if you have connection issues. You can use a mobile network coverage map to see which providers have the best signal in your area.
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