BT slashes call costs from landlines to mobiles following Ofcom ruling

BT is cutting the cost of making a phone call from its landlines to a mobile from 28 May.

On 1 April, Ofcom placed a cap on the amount mobile operators could charge for mobile termination rates; the wholesale charges that mobile operators make to other operators to connect calls to their networks. Now BT said it will pass on the first of those savings to its customers.

According to the communications giant, the cost of calling a mobile on all major networks from a BT landline will fall from 7p per minute to 5.3p. During the day, the cost will fall from 13p per minute to 11.3p,

BT said the cuts were "significant" and showed its leading role in the Terminate the Rate campaign along with mobile operator Three.

John Petter, managing director, consumer, at BT, said the company was also "naming and shaming Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin Media", which he said charged "so much more" for calling mobiles from their landlines.

Ernest Doku of uSwitch said: "Any BT customer that makes calls to mobiles from their landline will benefit from today's news. This is the first significant cut in call charges to be seen by consumers since Ofcom's termination rate ruling and should be welcomed with arms wide open.

"It's our only hope that now BT has set the pace, the other phone companies will follow suit sooner rather than later and make it cheaper for people to make calls to mobiles."