"People should have certainty that the price they sign up to is the price that they’ll continue to pay throughout their contract." Excellent thoughts from Tom McGrath at Careful Trouble (Careful Industries and Promising Trouble) looking at current consultations and plans on affordable internet in the UK. It's great that Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Authority are taking this so seriously - and that the new regulation gets closer to banning this practice. Mid-contract price rises can have a bigger effect on people who already facing financial difficulties. Tom is asking if this new regulatory practice goes far enough. Does it? #EquityOfAccess #DigitalEquity #DigitalInclusion #DigitalPoverty #InternetForAll
Is the market failing? Why internet access must be affordable for everyone 📉 In my new blog, I set out our belief at Careful Trouble (Careful Industries and Promising Trouble) that internet access is an essential utility, and it should be delivered and regulated as such. Current attempts to deliver affordable broadband and internet access are not working. We've seen dire social-tariff takeup and we're expecting yet another round of inflation-busting price rises from most of the major providers. Ofcom is currently consulting on a long overdue plan to ban these inflation-linked mid-contract price rises. This is welcome, but does not go far enough. And we have just seen yet another delay from industry in the implementation of their switching service, One Touch Switch, which will miss its *new* deadline of March 2024. Given its importance in day-to-day life, internet access must be available at an affordable rate for everyone. –– 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eFxyNz4p
Policy Analyst at Ofcom
9moThank you for sharing, Kat!