Broadband price increase 2025: Will bills be rising?

Jonathan Victoria • 10 Mar 2025

The short answer is unfortunately yes, but there is more to it…

Every year around April, millions of people in the UK witness a rise in their monthly bills due to an increase in their broadband monthly costs.

These rises have become commonplace and aren’t typically major rises, but are usually enough to be noticeable and may cause you to ask “why?”

It’s a valid question, and that’s why we’re here to answer it and more in this guide to the broadband price increases in 2025.

Why are prices rising in April 2025?

Price rises have become common practice each year for providers, coming around the start of the new fiscal year, which is in April in the UK.

The reason behind these increases is due to the providers’ need to combat inflation rates and rising business costs, so it’s not a cash-grab from them but a strategic effort to be able to keep their services in operation, or at the very least keeping them operating at the standard consumers have come to expect.

These price rises will be made aware to customers at the start of their contract, with a note being made that follows the lines of ‘prices may change during contract.’ Customers will also receive a notification in suitable time, usually by email and/or text, to let them know about the price rise, usually with how much they will be.

Is there a formula to the increases?

In the past, there was a formula of some kind that calculated the increases. Generally, providers will use the CPI value from the past December plus a little extra percentage on top (providers discretion as to how much) to calculate the increase.

This has changed somewhat since Ofcom stepped in last year to help provide more clarification for consumers, as well as bring some kind of regulation to the increases, as recent showed rather high increases due to the practice of following CPI.

Ofcom’s new regulations, which have been enforced from 17th January 2025, states that providers are no longer able to raise price via the percentage-based method, instead requiring them to use a standard set amount, otherwise they will face a penalty.

However, it is imperative to know that these changes only apply to new customers.

This means that any customers who purchased a new contract at a certain point (outlined by the provider but generally after 17th January at the latest) will see a set amount price rise.

Those who are already in a contract and have been since before 17th January (or the date given by provider) will still be subject to the providers’ formulaic price increase.

What is CPI?

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a crucial economic indicator that measures the average change in prices paid by consumers for a basket of goods and services over time.Simply put, it tracks inflation by monitoring the cost of everyday items.

In recent years, we have seen a rise in the UK CPI value, showcasing the rapid rate of inflation. Here is the GB CPI value from over the last 10 years:

The practice of providers increasing their prices by CPI has been ongoing for a few years now, but it has really been felt by the average consumer in the UK due in parts to two major factors - the heavy rise in CPI over the past four years, particularly in 2022, and the fact that providers also add an extra percentage on top.

For example, last year BT’s price hikes saw customers’ services increase by 6.4% - 2.5% via CPI, plus an added 3.9%.

Do all providers raise their prices?

Not every single broadband provider will be raising their prices, although you will find that essentially all the major UK providers will be. This includes Sky, BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk, who combined have over 85% of the UK’s broadband customer base.

However, it’s not all providers that raise their prices. Some smaller/growing AltNets choose to offer no in-contract price rises to entice customers to them. 

Which providers are increasing their prices in April 2025?

The big questions to answer then is who is raising their prices and by how much? 

Sky

Sky has taken a different route to the other providers, deciding to opt for keeping the percentage-based price rise for all customers, regardless of when you signed your contract.

This year, Sky customers will see an increase of 6.2% on their services. This stretches across broadband, TV and other services that Sky offers (note: Essential TV packages are not subject to a price increase this year).

BT

BT could be seen as one of the leaders of the new regulations as they introduced the set amount price rise on 10th April last year.

That means that for any customers who signed up to a new contract with BT after 10th April 2024, you will see the set rise to your monthly bill, which will be an extra £3. 

For those who are in a contract with BT that was started before 10th April 2024, you will receive the percentage-based price rise, which will be 6.4%.

Virgin Media

Virgin Media have always been a bit different to the others when it comes to their price rises, and the same goes this year again.

They were a bit later to the game in committing to a path for their price rises but ultimately they have also gone with the set price. For Virgin Media customers who signed up from 9th January 2025, your monthly bill will be rising by £3.50.

Things get a bit more complicated for those in contracts from before 9th January 2025 as that means you will see a percentage-based price rise. Only, Virgin doesn't do theirs by CPI, but rather by RPI (Retail Price Index).

RPI and CPI are essentially the same thing, only RPI is slightly higher as it includes items and costs that aren’t included in CPI calculations, such as housing costs like mortgage interest payments.

They also historically have used the most recent RPI rate at the time of when they announce their price increases, which for this year was 3.6%. Add on their additional 3.9% and customers who had a contract that started before 9th January 2025 will see their monthly costs rise by a total of 7.5%.

TalkTalk

TalkTalk aren’t doing anything too crazy, matching BT in announcing their flat price rises last year in August. This means that anyone who signed up to TalkTalk after 12th August 2024 will see their monthly costs rise by £3.

For customers who are under a contract that began prior to 12th August 2024, your monthly prices will be rising by 6.2% (CPI + 3.7%).

Others

We won’t go into detail about all other providers and their price rises, but here are a few and their price rises for 2025 from providers we have available packages for on Broadband Finder:

Each provider will state to you when these price increases will be applied to your bill. For most, they will come starting from your April bill, but some may have already implemented the increases from your March bill. Be sure to check your bill statements and on your providers’ website/any emails or communication from your provide which states when your monthly bill increase will be applied.

*All Gigaclear customers who started their contract before 26th December 2024 will not receive a price increase in 2025. Going forward and for all other customers, they will receive a fixed amount which will differ depending on the length of contract.

**All KCOM customers will receive a fixed price increase.

Is there a way to avoid the price rises?

Unfortunately, price rises are advertised upfront and agreed upon when you sign your contract with a provider. It will typically be stated simply as “Prices may change during contract” or something similar to that.

There often isn’t anything you can do about it if you are in the middle of a contract. Most providers will have an early exit fee if you feel really strongly about their price rises and want to get out of the contract before it ends and before the increases take effect, but this will incur a charge.

If you’re out of contract then you are free to change whenever you’d like. While that may seem as a solution to avoiding your providers’ price hike, out-of-contract prices are much higher than in-contract prices, so we wouldn’t advise going down that route.

The best thing you can do if you’re concerned or unhappy about your upcoming monthly price increase is speak to someone. There’s no harm in phoning your provider to find out your options.

If you’d like to do just that, you can call our helpful team now on 0330 165 6733.