Broadband and phone calls to get cheaper for customers

Consumers should get cheaper phone calls and broadband in a few weeks after changes to wholesale charges brought in by Ofcom take effect.

The communications regulator has set out new lower prices that BT Openreach can charge companies that rent its lines or install equipment in Openreach exchanges.

Ofcom said it expects these price reductions, which begin in April, to be passed on to consumers.

Adam Scorer, Director of Policy and External Affairs for Consumer Focus, said: "Talk should be cheaper for consumers from April, as the cost of their landlines and broadband will fall as a result of these moves by Ofcom.

"Lower wholesale charges should mean telecoms providers compete to bring down the cost of calls and provide cheaper broadband packages. At a time when everything seems to be going up, it is nice to see some action to put a few extra pounds back into consumers' pockets."

From 1 April the cost a company will pay for a fully unbundled line to a property – where it takes over the line to provide broadband and telephone services to customers – will fall from £91.50 to £87.41 for financial year 2012/13 and decrease further in the next year.

The wholesale price for a shared unbundled line to a property – where a communications provider uses a proportion of the line only for the provision of broadband – will drop from £14.70 per year to £11.92 for financial year 2012/13 and also decrease further in the next year.

The annual cost for Openreach's wholesale line rental – where a provider only offers telephone services to consumers – will drop from £103.68 per year to £98.81 for the current 2012/13 financial year 2012/13; this cost will also fall again in the next year.

Ofcom said the way it controls these prices "are designed to protect the interests of consumers while providing BT and communications providers with the appropriate incentives to continue to invest in networks and services".