Three in 10 households are having trouble in affording communications services, finds survey
September 2023 - Telecommunications
Three in 10 households are having trouble in affording communications services: Three in 10 households have revealed in an Ofcom survey that they are having trouble affording communications services (29%), a similar percentage to October 2022, and up 15% from April 2021.
The Ofcom Affordability of Communications Services Report highlighted that 6% of household with fixed broadband were experiencing an affordability issue with their broadband, rising to 11% of people on benefits and 12% of those classed as ‘potentially financially vulnerable’.
It also highlighted that several broadband and mobile providers have implemented significant above inflation price increases for in-contract customers, with Ofcom's communications affordability tracker showing that between July 2022 and January 23 around three in 10 households had 'difficulty affording their communications services in the last month'.
The survey also found that in January 23, households with a mobile contract were also finding services hard to afford (8%), increasing to 17% of households on means-tested benefits, while those with an impacting or limiting condition (15%) and those from a minority ethnic group (14%) were also impacted.
Paid TV affordability issues
The proportion of people with paid TV affordability issues rose from 10% in February 2022 to 15% in October 2022, with a similar trend seen for subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) services. In February 2022, 7% of respondents said they were struggling with SVoD affordability, compared to 14% in October 2022. By January 2023, the proportion experiencing affordability issues had fallen slightly (to 12% of pay-TV and 11% of SVoD customers), although consumers were still most likely to say they struggle to afford these services.
SVoD services (8%) and pay-TV services (6%) were also found to have the highest levels of cancellations.
Social Tariffs
The study also looked at social tariffs offered by communications services, with 85% of fixed broadband homes now able to access a social tariff without switching provider or incurring an early termination charge (ETC). Awareness of social tariffs has increased considerably in the last 12 months. Whilst in January 2022, 84% of households said they had not heard of the cheaper broadband services they could access, this had fallen to 69% by April 2022 and further again to 53% by February 2023.
Seeking to learn more about where people had heard about social tariffs the research found that just over a quarter (26%) cited social media and one in five (21%) said via television programmes.
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