Landline prices review to protect elderly and vulnerable 01 December 2016
Ofcom concerned about cost of line rental for landline-only customers
Review will ensure customers are protected and get value for money
Ofcom has today announced a review of the retail market for standalone landline telephone services, to ensure that customers receive value for money.
Overall competition in the telecommunications sector remains strong, with consumers getting better value for money in recent years (see chart 1). But Ofcom is concerned that people who buy landline services on their own are not being served well by the market.
Our analysis shows that all major landline providers have increased their line rental charges significantly in recent years by between 28% and 41% in real terms. This is despite providers benefitting from around a 25% fall in the underlying wholesale cost of providing a landline service (see chart 2).
Price increases are felt most acutely by standalone' landline customers those who do not have broadband or a pay-TV service. They do not benefit from strong competition in the market for bundled' communications where landline, broadband and sometimes pay-TV services are packaged together.
Ofcom's analysis also shows that elderly and vulnerable people, who make up a significant proportion of standalone landline customers in the UK, are particularly affected by price rises (see chart 3). They are often very reliant on their landline, and more likely than most to have stayed with the same phone company all their life.
Ofcom's review will establish whether measures are needed to protect this group of customers. We are now analysing the market in detail and, depending on our findings, we expect to publish a consultation in early 2017.
Jonathan Oxley, Ofcom's Competition Group Director, said: Our evidence shows that landline providers have been raising the price of line rental, even as their costs have been coming down.
We're particularly concerned for older and vulnerable customers, who rely on their landline and are less likely to change provider. So we're reviewing this market to ensure these customers are protected and getting value for money.
In January this year, Ofcom published research it carried out with the Advertising Standards Authority on consumers' understanding of how broadband prices were advertised, including the separation of line rental charges.
Following this work, the ASA introduced new rules in October, which we welcome, requiring broadband prices to be clearer and inclusive of line rental. This may benefit customers taking bundles, and reduce incentives to increase line rental charges. However, it is unlikely to benefit landline-only customers another reason that Ofcom is reviewing this market.
Chart one:
Landline spending reflects reduced use of landlines, and lower cost of making calls
Chart two:
Chart three:
Wholesale market reviewToday's announcement is made within a consultation covering Ofcom's separate review of the wholesale markets that underpin fixed voice services in the UK.(1)
The consultation relates to wholesale prices that BT can charge other telecoms providers to offer homes and businesses a telephone service over its copper network. Regulation resulting from the review will apply from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2020.
The wholesale review looks at the following markets:
Wholesale exchange lines the traditional lines used by residential and business consumers;
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) digital lines primarily used by larger businesses with multiple lines or sites, for example call centres;
Call origination a service that enables people to make calls over these lines; and
Call termination the service used by a telecoms provider to connect their customers' incoming calls.
Today's consultation closes on 28 February 2017.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Ofcom is reviewing these wholesale markets under the Electronic Communications Framework. This Framework applies to all transmission networks and services (including access) for electronic communications including telecommunications (fixed and mobile), e-mail and access to the internet. Ofcom may impose appropriate remedies in retail markets in which there is significant market power where wholesale remedies would not achieve its statutory objectives.
Source for Chart 1: Ofcom Communications Market Report (Figure 4.34). Ofcom / operators / ONS. Between 2011 and 2015 the average home broadband data use per month increased from 17 GB to 82GB.
Source for Chart 2: Ofcom/Pure Pricing UK Broadband Updates
Source for Chart 3: 2015 Jigsaw residential survey (wave 1).
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
Landline prices review to protect elderly and vulnerable 01 December 2016 
