The newly appointed Chief Executive of OFCOM*, Sharon White, gave oral evidence last week to the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee at which I took the opportunity to quiz her about mobile phone contracts and tariffs.
I told Ms White that just 8% of mobile users switch carriers each year while 38% swap car insurance companies. About half of the population have never changed their carrier and according to ‘Which’ this means that 72% of mobile users are on the wrong contract for their actual needs, costing mobile users £5.4billion a year – or the equivalent of a penny on income tax.
I asked Ms White what OFCOM was going to do to enable easier switching of mobile carriers and what she would do to encourage mobile companies to make sure people are on the cheapest tariffs.
Sharon White said that mobile switching was “the next big thing” on OFCOM’s radar and they would be conducting a review into switching and tariffs shortly including potential changing to a ‘gaining provider led’ switching system whereby consumers only need to call the providing they’re joining which then manage the switching on their behalf.
I further asked about pricing transparency in particular the situation where people who sign up for a new phone may continue to pay for the cost of the handset even after the initial 24 month contract period – thereby paying for their device twice! Ms White confirmed that she was also looking into this issue and the question of price transparency in the mobile sector more broadly.
Sharon White gave reasonable answers to my questions and I was glad to hear that these issues are on OFCOM’s radar but I now want to see action. Many constituents have contacted me about poor mobile coverage and service standards from and they are rightly annoyed to then find out that they are paying more for their service than they really need to. OFCOM needs to make sure that it delivers a good deal for consumers and I will hold them account to doing so.
*The Office of Telecommunications, aka OFCOM is the UKs regulator for the Telecommunications industry which covers the mobile and fixed telephony, broadband and some aspects of broadcasting.