TalkTalk broadband increases mid-contract price rises to £4

From 16 November 2025, all new and renewed TalkTalk broadband contracts will include higher annual price rises of £4 per month.

The change aligns TalkTalk with several other major providers that have already increased their prices, including BT, EE, Plusnet, Virgin Media and Vodafone.

While existing customers won't see the impact until they renew their contracts, the continuation of above-inflation, mid-contract rises is likely to draw further scrutiny from Ofcom.

TalkTalk annual price rises

TalkTalk has increased its annual mid-contract price rise from £3 to £4 per month for all new and re-contracting customers from 16 November 2025.

Under the new policy, customers will see their monthly bill rise by £4 every April. For example, someone joining on a £28-per-month plan would see their price increase to £32 in April 2026, and then to £36 in April 2027.

Once a broadband contract ends, customers will still face annual rises of £4 per month. However, at that point they can choose to renew - potentially securing a better price - or switch to another provider for a more competitive deal.

TalkTalk says the increase is driven by inflationary pressures, rising investment costs and higher wholesale charges from suppliers such as Openreach.

"Due to inflation in recent years, not only have investment costs increased, but the regulated wholesale prices we pay our suppliers have gone up too. This is why we need to increase our prices, to enable us to invest further in the service that we offer to you today and in the future."

Existing customers will not be affected unless they renew their contract. Those who joined TalkTalk between 12 August 2024 and 15 November 2025 will continue to see annual price rises of £3 per month. Customers who signed up before 12 August 2024 remain on inflation-linked increases, based on January's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate plus 3.7%.

Industry increases

TalkTalk's decision mirrors a broader shift across the broadband and mobile industry, as major providers continue pushing through higher mid-contract rises.

BT set the pace in July 2025, increasing its annual price rise from £3 to £4 per month. EE and Plusnet soon mirrored the change, pointing to a deliberate, group-wide strategy within BT.

Other major providers have since taken similar steps. Virgin Media raised its annual mid-contract increase from £3.50 to £4 per month in October 2025, while Vodafone lifted its rise from £3 to £3.50 per month in November 2025.

Mobile operators have also followed a similar path, with EE, O2, Vodafone and Three all introducing mid-contract increases of up to £2.50 per month. Three remains something of an outlier, retaining a tiered approach that applies smaller rises to its lower-cost plans - though these, too, have increased from November 2025.

One of the key concerns with flat-rate increases is that they disproportionately burden customers on cheaper tariffs. A fixed £4 rise represents an 18% jump for someone on a £22-per-month basic plan, while a customer paying £45 for a premium package sees their bill rise by less than 9%.

Under previous CPI-linked formulas, the uplift would scale with the monthly price, meaning cheaper plans rose more gently. For example, with CPI at 2.5%, a CPI+3.7% increase on a £22 plan would have added 1.37 a month - far lower than the new £4 flat increase.

While inflation has risen in recent years, these new fixed hikes are often higher than what customers would have paid under the old CPI+ models. This suggests the switch to flat-rate rises is exposing consumers - especially those on the cheapest tariffs - to above-inflation price increases, and raises questions over whether Ofcom's new rules are adequately protecting households.

With these industry-wide changes gathering pace, Ofcom is facing mounting pressure from the Government to re-examine mid-contract pricing practices.