Virgin Media announce new annual price rises for 2025

Following on from Ofcom's ban of inflation-linked mid contract price rises, due to come into effect from January 2025, Virgin Media have announced their upcoming plans.

Virgin Media broadband, TV and phone plans will all increase by £3.50 per month each April from April 2025.

O2 mobile plans will also be moving to a pounds and pence-based method, increasing by £1.80 per month each April.

Credit: Sharaf Maksumov/Shutterstock.com

Virgin Media annual price rises

Virgin Media contracts taken out, or re-contracted, from January 2025 will now be subject to pounds and pence-based annual price rises, in line with new regulation from Ofcom.

All broadband, broadband and phone, and TV bundles will increase by £3.50 per month in April of each year, while O2 mobile contracts, including those as part of a Volt bundle, will rise by £1.80 per month.

The provider has confirmed any customers on social tariffs, including Virgin Media Essential Broadband and the new O2 Essential Plan, will continue to be protected from annual price rises and won't see their monthly bills go up.

Christian Hindennach, Virgin Media O2's Chief Commercial Officer, said, "We are always clear and transparent about any price changes, and we listen carefully to customers' feedback. That is why today, in line with new Ofcom rules, we are announcing that we're changing how we communicate and implement price increases for our customers. In future, any price changes included in a customer's contract will be specified prominently in pounds and pence, giving customers even greater certainty about how their bills may change over the course of their contract."

Better or worse?

Virgin Media moved to Retail Price Index (RPI) based price rises on contracts from April 2023, bringing them into line with partner O2.

With RPI generally higher than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure other providers typically use in their inflation-linked price rises, Virgin Media and O2 had the highest round of annual price hikes in 2023, with O2 raising prices by 17.3%, and 2024, when both providers raised prices by 8.8%.

Examples from the April 2024 round of price rises of Virgin Media bundles included an increase of £2.55 per month on M125 Fibre Broadband with a previous price of £29, while the Bigger Combo Bundle increased by £4.31 to £53.31 up from £49, and the Mega Volt Bundle increased by £7.48 to £92.48 up from £85.

It's easy to see then, how a flat £3.50 annual price rise will benefit those on larger, more expensive plans, but penalise those on the cheaper entry-level deals, which would have previously seen smaller increases.

Customers on Virgin Media's cheapest broadband-only plan, M125 Fibre Broadband, will now see effective increases of 14% on the current list price of £25 per month.

Despite this, Hindennach criticised other provider's approaches to offer tiered systems, whereby cheaper plans have lower flat rates, and more expensive plans have higher rates, saying, "other mobile providers have announced a tiered approach and highlighted increases of "from £1" in public, but many of their customers will see rises of £1.80 or more".

Three UK moved to pounds and pence-based annual price rises from September 2024, and implemented a tiered system, with plans of 4GB or less rising by £1 per month, plans from 5GB to 99GB rising by £1.25 per month, and plans greater than 100GB rising by £1.50 per month.

Those on Three UK's home broadband plans with mains powered 4G or 5G routers will see prices rise by £2 per month.

While it is slightly more complex, the tiered approach will certainly seem fairer to those customers on budget plans when prices do go up.

Virgin Media O2 believe however, their flat rate rises of £3.50 and £1.80 respectively are more "open and transparent".

So far, Virgin Media's price rise of £3.50 per month on broadband and TV bundles is the most expensive yet, with BT, Plusnet, EE, Vodafone, and TalkTalk all announcing annual price rises of £3 per month.

A closer competitor, Sky, who doesn't explicitly state annual price rise amounts in their contracts, increased prices between £1 and £4 per month on broadband plans, and £1 to £3 per month on TV plans, in April 2024.