2026英国通信行业趋势报告：定价策略与消费者参与情况

Trends in the UK communications sector Published 26 February 2026 Contents Section Foreword....................................................................................................................................3Overview ....................................................................................................................................5Key metrics.................................................................................................................................9Switching and consumer engagement ....................................................................................10New rules on in-contract price rises ........................................................................................24Pricing of fixed broadband and bundled services....................................................................34Pricing of fixed voice services ..................................................................................................49Pricing of mobile services ........................................................................................................52Pricing of pay TV and SVoD services ........................................................................................73International comparisons.......................................................................................................78Affordability, debt and disconnections....................................................................................81Terminology in this report .......................................................................................................90 Annex A1Methodology................................................................................................................92 Foreword Ofcom’s role is to ensure fair competition and support affordable prices and high-quality services forphone and broadband, while encouraging long-term investment in the networks that the countryneeds for future growth, productivity and innovation. This report shines a light on the prices atwhich the communications services we all rely on are offered, what users pay for them, and howpeople engage with the market. In a period when many UK households continue to struggle with cost-of-living pressures,competition in UK communications markets is working well for customers, giving them a wide rangeof choice, while the prices of most telecoms services have remained flat or fallen in recent years, inreal terms. The market is delivering investment in networks that give customers access to better quality servicesand offer greater reliability and security. Seventy-eight per cent of UK residential premises now haveaccess to full fibre broadband, an increase of nine percentage points year on year and up from 6% in2018. 5G coverage continues to increase, and UK consumers can now benefit from extensive 5Gstandalone availability which, among other benefits, provides faster speeds and more reliableconnectivity in busy areas. However, there is more to be done as the experience of using services isnot always good enough, particularly in mobile. Consumer engagement and switching between providers are essential for markets to functioneffectively and for consumers to benefit from competition. A key priority for Ofcom is to help peopleengage with the market and choose the services that best meet their needs. We have done this inseveral ways. Our rules mean that providers must notify customers when their current contract is coming to anend (and in each subsequent year they remain out of contract) and advise them of some of thealternatives available to them and what they will pay if they take no action. The Ofcom website includes abroadband coverage checkerwhich gives consumers informationabout the fixed broadband services that are available to them, and our updated mobile coveragechecker,Map Your Mobile, provides not only information on mobile coverage but also how wellnetworks perform in coverage areas, as poor network quality can make using services a challenge.From its launch in late June 2025 to the end of the year, 630,000 people used Map Your Mobile. We have rules to ensure that when customers are comparing deals, providers clearly set out certaininformation about their services. In January 2025, we introduced new rules requiring providers toclearly set out any price rises included in contracts in pounds and pence before a customer signs up.These rules were introduced to improve the transparency of the information consumers receiveabout the price they can expect to pay over the life of the contract. As the rules are recent, we do not currently have sufficient evidence to draw any firm conclusions onhow they have impacted consumer behaviour and the market in general (in terms of consumerunderstanding, switching behaviour and pricing). However, our initial assessment based on theinformation currently available is that the rules are providing greater clari