Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to prevent mobile phone companies from continuing to charge customers for the cost of a handset after those costs have been recovered through the conclusion of a fixed-term contract; and if he will make a statement.

The 2017 Conservative Manifesto committed to make billing for telecoms consumers fairer and easier to understand, including making it clear when consumers have paid off the cost of their mobile handset. On 26 September 2018, Ofcom published two proposals to ensure fairer, more transparent prices for mobile customers who pay for their handsets and airtime within the same contract. First, achieving greater transparency by, for example, requiring mobile firms to break down the cost of the different parts of the bundled mobile package a customer is purchasing. Second, a requirement for providers to introduce fairer tariffs, for example moving consumers of bundled mobile phone packages to SIM only contracts, at the end of the minimum contract period. The consultation closes on 7 November 2018 and further details can be viewed at:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-2/consumers-communications-markets-mobile-handsets.