The UK’s largest mobile and broadband companies have been accused of fuelling “greedflation” after pushing through the biggest round of price hikes for more than 30 years.
It comes ahead of a meeting on Wednesday at which the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, will order industry regulators to take tougher action to curb inflation.
Analysis published by the Guardian today reveals that six companies controlling most of the telecoms market all charged a 3.9 percentage point supplement on top of their annual inflation-linked increases this year.
The practice means millions of customers have faced mid-contract price increases of up to 17.3%, which economists said risked prolonging the cost of living crisis and adding to the pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates.
Labour accused the government of being “asleep at the wheel” on broadband pricing, while the telecoms regulator Ofcom responded by saying it was “tak...
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