O2 tariff price hikes announced to take effect in February

O2 has announced it will be increasing its monthly charges on contract tariffs by 3.2 per cent in line with inflation.

The company revealed the change on its pricing page, where it said:

‘To date, we've held off putting our tariff prices up for as long as possible. Even when our competitors raised theirs. But now, because of inflation, we need to change the price of your tariff.

From 28 February 2013, your line rental will go up by 3.2%. That's in line with the current rate of inflation as at December 2012 when we made the announcement.

You'll see the increase on the first bill you get after 28 February 2013.’

However, O2 made it clear that the increase will only affect your monthly bill. Call, text and mobile internet data rates will not change.

The company has also provided a handy calculator to help you figure out what you’ll be paying come the end of February. As an example, £20 per month contracts will now cost you £20.64 instead.

Naturally this might aggravate some users, but, unfortunately, if you do find it irksome you’re pretty much stuck because the Terms and Conditions cover this kind of change as being all part and parcel, provided you have 30 days notice - which is why O2's announcing it now, of course.

If you want to quit O2 you’ll have to pay a leaving fee which will most likely be the equivalent of the rest of your contract payments anyway.

At least it's still cheaper than 4G on EE.