TalkTalk go on offensive with claim that BT customers could save a combined £448m by switching to TalkTalk
TalkTalk released a statement today which estimates that BT customers could save a total of £448m on their home phone bills if they all switched to TalkTalk, the home phone and broadband provider.
The release coincides with TalkTalk’s announcement that they are introducing free anytime local calls from 1st May 2009, while 11.8m BT home phone customers are still paying for them. This is a key move for TalkTalk as seven out of every 10 calls made by TalkTalk customers are to local numbers.
TalkTalk’s research claims that the average BT home phone customer would save £38 per year by switching from the most similar BT call plan and with 11.8 million BT home phone customers who are currently paying for their local calls, this would in theory create a £448m saving for them over a year.
Wendy Becker, managing director of TalkTalk, said: “We are committed to providing our customers with the best value package on the market – whether that be for their home phone or their broadband. Our new free local calls anytime offer means that 70% of our customers’ UK calls will now be free. We think that’s an unbeatable deal, especially at a time when people are looking to cut their costs wherever they can.”
Whilst the headline savings figure is a little spurious, the move to free local calls is good news for TalkTalk customers and it should more than offset the recent increase in TalkTalk line rental which went up from £10.50 to £11.25 per month. It will be interesting to see whether the key competitors follow suit. Tiscali has so many issues at present that it is unlikely to respond at all, but Sky for example will be plotting its competitive response for its popular Sky Talk service which is currently in 1.7 million Sky digital TV homes.
Overall therefore it is good news for home phone consumers and further reason for the 33% of UK homes who have not switched their home phone provider in the last 5 years to dig out their bills and see if they could make big savings by switching.
From 2nd June TalkTalk customers will also be able to benefit from free calls to all 0845 and 0870 numbers.