Stephen van Rooyen, Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer, UK & EuropeSky provides connectivity our customers can count on through our Talk, Broadband, and Mobile products, which are used by millions of people right across the UK.
We know how important these everyday connectivity services are to our customers. So as many households face a rising cost of living and growing financial pressures, we are focussed on ways we can better support our most vulnerable customers.
These include:
Providing a broadband and mobile social tariff that is easily accessible for eligible customers
Passing on any savings from Openreach should they implement a wholesale social tariff price
A commitment to not increase the price of our social tariffs throughout 2023
Providing value across our services, including through TV Essentials
Supporting our customers to manage their bills, including enabling customers to move to social tariffs without facing any early termination charges
Supporting communities that need it most through Sky Up and our Tech Grants programme
Dedicated social tariffs:
Earlier this year Sky and NOW both launched broadband social tariffs - Sky Broadband Basics and NOW Broadband Basics - offering a discounted connection to people receiving Universal or Pension Credit. These tariffs are designed to help our customers who are struggling with their broadband bills, but who need to stay connected. Both social tariffs provide eligible customers with a broadband connection for just £20 per month.
We were the first major broadband provider that does not own its own fixed broadband network to offer a dedicated social tariff.
We pay BT's Openreach wholesale prices in order to connect our customers to broadband. What this means is that the majority of a Sky customer's broadband bill goes straight to Openreach. This is still the case for the social tariff - with Sky paying Openreach the same wholesale price for our customers on our social tariff as we do for our customers who aren't.
If Openreach chooses to provide a social tariff wholesale price, then we commit to passing that saving directly back to our social tariff customers, reducing the cost of our social tariff in line with the discount.
But until that changes we know we need to do more, so we are launching a new mobile social tariff for all Sky customers on Sky Broadband Basics. This new package will provide our existing customers with unlimited UK calls and texts and 3GB of data per month for 12 months at no cost at all. This means that our customers who are facing financial pressure can stay connected in and outside the home with Sky for £20 a month - the price of our Sky Broadband Basics package.
We will also be making Sky Broadband Basics and NOW Broadband Basics available to people receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income Support, Income related Jobseekers Allowance and Income related Employment Support Allowance next month. We can do this because of the Department for Work and Pensions' new tool which makes it easier for us to confirm a customer's eligibility for our social tariff.
I know that the economic backdrop is challenging for many households in the UK, and I am focussed on how Sky can help and support our customers in a targeted way. That's why today we are also making a promise to those customers who are most in need that we will not increase the price of our social tariffs throughout 2023.
Sky now has a range of measures to help keep our customers connected as well as helping them enjoy the content they know and love.
Providing value you can believe in:
Sky Mobile offers a low-cost SIM-only plan which provides 3GB of data for only £7 a month.
Sky Mobile customers can rollover their unused data each month. We store the data in a customer's data piggybank' for up to three years and it can also be shared with up to seven SIMs on a customers account or exchanged for rewards. New research shows that in total mobile users in the UK lose over £80 a year by not using, and therefore losing, the data they pay for each month.
We let Sky Mobile customers mix' their plans to suit their financial and lifestyle situations - this means customers can change their plan every month, so they only pay for what they need at that moment. Tens of thousands of customers make the most of this every month.
Sky offers Superfast Broadband for £28 a month for an 18-month minimum term
Sky customers can also get Sky, Netflix and Paramount+ for less than £1 a day.
We also offer TV Essentials - which allows customers to keep using their Sky Q box and its functionality along with accessing free to air channels and services at a significantly reduced cost.
Our customers have the option to access Sky content via NOW, which is available without a long-term contract - via monthly passes, and day passes for Sports.
Sky is consistently top in the customer service rankings of the regulator, Ofcom, where Sky is the least complained about among pay-TV, broadband and mobile providers.
Managing bills:
Across all our products we offer support to customers who are struggling to pay their bills - this could be changing to a different tariff or providing payment holidays for when they have taken out credit agreements.
We do not charge an exit fee for customers moving to our social tariff or leaving our social tariff.
We are one of the only major Broadband and Mobile providers that do not have a specific price increase written into customer contracts - this means you can leave without paying an Early Termination Charge if you're notified of a price increase during your contract's minimum term.
All our contact centre staff are empowered to treat customers as individuals and work with them to find solutions to their individual financial circumstances. Sky's contact centre staff a
