Sky Mobile confirms price rise - and 30-day exit window

Sky Mobile has confirmed a price rise for customers mid-contract, with most affected users set to see their monthly bill increase by around £1.50.

It marks Sky Mobile's first in-contract price increase in more than seven years, breaking with its long-standing approach to keeping prices fixed during contracts.

Customers impacted by the change will be given at least 30 days' notice and the right to leave penalty-free if they do not want to accept the higher price.

Sky Mobile prices to rise

Sky Mobile has confirmed a price rise for customers who are already in contract, with most affected users set to see their monthly bill increase by around £1.50.

The increase will take effect from February 2026, following direct notification to customers ahead of the change.

While this marks Sky Mobile's first in-contract price rise in more than seven years, it follows a recent change in how Sky describes its mobile pricing.

Sky has moved away from advertising "no mid-contract price rises", instead stating that prices may change, aligning its mobile terms more closely with Sky Broadband and Sky TV.

The price increase is not inflation-linked and is not set out in pounds and pence at the point of sale.

Instead, customers are notified when a price change is made and given at least 30 days' notice before the higher charge applies.

Devesh Raj, Chief Operating Officer for Sky, said, "Our customers are at the heart of everything we do at Sky. That's why we combine reliable connectivity, flexible data options, and award-winning service - making it easy to stay connected with choice and confidence.

"To keep improving Sky Mobile and invest in the best and most reliable service, we need to adjust our pricing. These ongoing improvements, combined with rising wholesale and operating costs, mean that most Sky Mobile customers will see a change to their tariff price this year."

Exit window

Because the increase is applied mid-contract, Sky Mobile customers affected by the change will be given the right to leave without paying early termination fees.

Sky says customers will receive at least 30 days' notice before the higher price takes effect, during which they can cancel or switch provider penalty-free if they do not want to accept the increase.

That approach differs from networks that now build fixed annual price rises into contracts upfront, where customers typically have no right to exit when prices rise.

In Sky's case, prices are not set to increase automatically each year. Instead, customers are told about changes at the point they happen, and the exit window is triggered then - allowing them to reassess the deal in light of the new price.

Framed this way, Sky's model can work in customers' favour if inflation falls, since price rises are not locked in years in advance. But it also places the burden on customers to notice the change and act within the exit window if they want to avoid paying more.

For those who do nothing, the higher price is applied automatically once the notice period ends.

Different model, same pressure

Sky Mobile's announcement lands in the middle of a wider debate about how mid-contract price rises now work - and whether the rules around them still make sense.

Some networks have moved to fixed annual increases set out upfront, prioritising certainty but removing exit rights when prices rise. Others, like Sky, allow prices to change mid-contract, triggering a penalty-free exit window instead.

That distinction is increasingly under strain as price rises become more regular. Exit windows were originally designed to deal with one-off contract changes, not price increases that happen year after year.

The same contract-change logic has already proved controversial elsewhere. O2 faced criticism after applying higher charges to existing customers while relying on exit windows as justification, pushing the issue into public and political debate.

As a result, how exit rights are used - and whether they still offer meaningful protection when price rises are predictable - is now under review by Ofcom.

If annual increases are now a normal feature of mobile contracts, the bigger question is why they are still applied mid-contract at all - rather than more simply being priced in upfront and removing in-contract price rises entirely.