New increase in internet and mobile prices in April!
Starting in April, many mobile phone and internet customers in Austria will have to bear new price increases. The reason is that many contracts are linked to the consumer price index (Verbraucherpreisindex - VPI), which leads to automatic increases without the need for customer approval.
Last year, prices rose by 7.8%, while the increase this year is 2.9%. Although the current increase is less severe, the cumulative impact over the coming years could be significant. Since 2020, the price index has risen by 27.1%, which means that anyone who signed a contract linked to the index at that time is now paying much higher amounts.
According to the price comparison platform tarife.at, experts recommend regularly reviewing available offers. The site's manager, Maximilian Schirmer, emphasizes the importance of price comparison, especially for those who have been tied to contracts for many years. If the commitment period has ended, one can switch to a better offer that saves money and provides additional benefits.
A simple example illustrating the danger of linking contracts to the CPI: A family of 3 has 3 phone contracts with internet subscriptions, paying about 25.75 euros more per month compared to what they were paying in 2020, which amounts to around 309 euros extra per year, totaling over 1,500 euros over five years.
The issue is not only about price increases, but also that long-time customers are receiving less service. In the past, every euro of subscription fees granted users 0.7 gigabytes of data, while today new subscribers receive over 2 gigabytes for the same amount.
In Austria, about 58.1% of mobile phone contracts are linked to VPI, compared to 47% last year, while internet contracts reached 86.4%. There are no signs that this trend will stop anytime soon. However, it should be noted: these increases do not grant the customer the right to terminate the contract immediately. Nevertheless, those who purchase the phone separately can choose a flexible contract, making them more capable of saving and changing the offer when needed.