Ofcom has been concerned that phone line rental prices had risen recently despite wholesale costs falling.

As such, Ofcom has recently approached the Telecoms giant BT and discussed its fixed-line prices for both consumer and business plans. BT has a 37% share of the consumer landline market and a 46% share of the business landline market.

BT accepted that the plans for consumers were “poor value for money”. The review has resulted in BT agreeing to slash its landline only plans for consumers by £7 a month. This means that from April 2018 they will see savings of £84 a year.

Putting this into context, a consumer ‘landline only’ deal with unlimited calls from BT currently costs £27.98, after the cut this wall fall to £20.98. The same deal for businesses costs £32.50.

For consumers, this is a welcomed change, and the change will be automatic starting next year. A spokesperson, however, stated that “there are no plans to change our business pricing.”

When asked by Retail Express why the regulator did not force BT to change its business deals as well, a spokesperson replied: “There is a lot more competition in this market and therefore customers generally have a wider range of choices.”

I find this astonishing that, once again, it is small businesses that are getting a raw deal when it comes to buying services such as Telecom or Energy.

Small businesses do not enjoy the same level of protection that consumers get from regulations. In the last 8 years, BT and its major competitors have increased small business line rental every single year.

BT stated: “We welcome a balanced voluntary agreement with Ofcom which means that up to one million of our customers who don’t have broadband will receive a substantial cut in the price of their line rental from April 2018,”

At bOnline, we are pushing boundaries and going against the flow in order to provide lower prices for small businesses. In today's competitive market, I find it important to keep costs low, so to help the UK new and small businesses flourish by enabling them to invest more into other aspects of their business. This is why we provide the UK’s cheapest phone line rental and plans.

I invite you to see our business phone line plans here or alternatively, get in touch with our sales team by calling us on 020 3617 9950.