billmonitor.com, which offers an Ofcom-accredited mobile phone bill analysis and price comparison service, has calculated that UK consumers ‘waste’ £6 billion per year by being on mobile phone tariffs that are either too small or too excessive for their needs. The figure has increased by £1.1 billion since the company’s last survey in 2011. 74% of mobile consumers are thought to be on the ‘wrong’ contract, just two percentage points down from last year’s report.
A total of 26 million UK mobile subscribers are on excessive tariffs, wasting an average of £164 per year by paying for allowances that are three times too large for them. By contrast, 8 million subscribers would save by moving from tariffs that are too small.
Just 26% of subscribers are on the lowest-priced tariff for their usage. billmonitor.com notes that many of these have negotiated a tariff price that isn’t available on the open market, often receiving a ‘retention’ or ‘loyalty’ discount that isn’t available to other users.
The report is based on the analysis of 69,831 anonymised mobile phone bills from customers with mobile contracts on O2, Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile.
[Blog; report]