By Megan French, MSE News Reporter .. BT has re-entered the mobile market this week with a range of Sim-only mobile deals, but the tariffs are only available on a 12 month contract and only its 7.6 million broadband customers will benefit from the cheapest prices.
From today, the telecoms giant is offering three 12-month, 4G bundles, starting at £5 per month, with bonuses such as wifi hotspots.
However while non-BT broadband customers can get the Sims, to bag the cheapest prices you, or someone in your household, needs to be an existing BT broadband customer.
Head-to-head with other ‘quad-play’ providers
The launch of BT’s Sim-only deals also puts it in the ring to go head-to-head with other ‘quad-play’ providers such as Virgin Media. See our Cheap Broadband, Cheap Home Phones, Cheap Mobiles and Cheap Digital TV guides to get the best deals.
The move is a forerunner to BT’s £12.5 billion buy-out of EE, which if approved by the Competition and Markets Authority, is likely to see BT offer additional contracts and deals, with handsets, through the EE brand (see the BT to buy EE, but no change for customers yetMSE News story).
Very competitive,
Nick Durrant, MoneySavingExpert.com’s consumer analyst, says: “For existing BT customers these Sim-only plans are very competitive, beating other 4G tariffs currently on the market. However BT’s broadband is rarely the best value and can often be beaten by deals from other providers.
“So any savings gained through the mobile tariffs can be quickly wiped out by the more costly broadband. If households are thinking of switching to BT broadband purely for the Sim deals, ensure you do the sums first to calculate whether you’ll save overall.”