O2 Pay Monthly customers hit with New Year price hike

Mobile operator O2 has warned its Pay Monthly business customers to brace themselves for a 3.2 per cent price hike, which will take effect from 28 February 2013.

O2 said the price increase reflects the current rate of inflation, and means more than half of the firm's customers could see up to 58p more added to their bill each month.

We've held off for as long as possible but now need to make a change.

"What you pay for making calls, sending texts and using data isn't affected by this increase. It's just the mobile line rental for your Pay Monthly tariff," the company explained.

The changes will affect users signed up to the firm's consumer and business pay monthly tariffs, although large enterprise customers on bespoke contracts will be spared, O2 confirmed.

In a statement, announcing the move, the company said: "We consistently try to provide all our customers with great value and keep our prices low.

"However, as external costs continue to rise, we have had to review the impact this is having on what we charge for our pay monthly service.

"At a time when our competitors have been raising the price of their tariffs, we have resisted. We've held off for as long as possible but now need to make a change," it added.

The company said it was announcing the change now to give customers time to "manage their finances", and insisted the decision was not one the firm took lightly.

"However, it will help enable us continue to invest in the services that matter to our customers while still offering great value for money," the statement continued.

News of the price hike comes at the end of, what some may consider to be, a turbulent year for O2 customers, who have been rocked by two major service outages.