Virgin Media hikes broadband, phone prices by five per cent

Cable company's bundle customers face bigger bills from early next year

Virgin Media will jack up the price tag on its broadband and phone service bundles by up to £3.99 from early next year.

The Liberty Global-owned company has written to customers to warn them of the price hike, which will hit their bills from February next year.

Virgin Media has been fielding complaints about the price rise, which is an inflation-busting 5.4 per cent increase on average for the cable company's customers.

Over on Twitter, VM has been telling subscribers: "The price changes are put in place to sustain and build on our network to give you even better quality".

@CJWReddevil Woohoo, great news. It's a free upgrade Chris subject to price increases. Let us know when it kicks ... https://t.co/Rw5dPu22jP

— Virgin Media (@virginmedia) November 10, 2015

In its letter to customers, Virgin Media has confirmed that monthly prices will jump by up to £3.99, including a £1 line rental hike.

It has told subscribers that they can terminate their contracts early without penalty as a result of the price increase.

A Virgin Media spokesbeing told The Register that the price for bundled packages were increasing to reflect the "speed boost" to its service.

The ISP is now offering download speeds of up to 200Mbps to its customers and noted that this was the third time it had upped its broadband speed since 2012.

Virgin Media's managing director, Gregor McNeil, said: “We are doing everything we can to keep prices as competitive as possible. Through the continuing investment in our network we are again upgrading our customers’ broadband speeds and providing unlimited downloads – meeting the growth in data consumption we see.” ®