Virgin Media O2 Business passes price cuts on through partners

With inflation rising, energy prices spiralling and household essentials all going up, it is difficult to find an example of somewhere in the market where the reverse is happening.

But Virgin Media O2 Business is hoping its decision to reduce prices on its dedicated internet access (DIA) bandwidths and national ethernet wholesale services will arm partners with a positive message to take out to customers.

The comms player is cutting prices by up to 2.8% a year on a number of its 100Mb, 1Gb and 10Gb fully and partially managed network termination units. Partners have already seen reductions earlier this year across the firm’s high-bandwidth national ethernet services.

In January, the company reduced its national ethernet pricing on key bandwidths on a 1Gb bearer by up to 3%.

“Since launching our UltimateFlex model in June last year, we have reduced prices for thousands of contracts. For those partners, their margins grew overnight,” said Diego Tedesco, wholesale fixed director at Virgin Media O2 Business.

“Now we are extending price reductions across more bandwidths – for new and existing UltimateFlex customers – helping all our fixed wholesale partners to stimulate the market and drive business. It’s all about offering more flexibility and value when businesses need it most.”

The price changes come into effect from today and partners will be able to see them on the rate card.

The lower prices will be available to new customers and will be applied to existing user accounts automatically.

Virgin Media O2 Business’s move to reduce ethernet costs comes after customers and partners had been warned that broadband prices would go up by double digits this year.

Research from Choose earlier this year found that 87% of broadband and mobile customers were unaware that prices may rise by as much as 10% by April 2022.

Lyndsey Burton, managing director of Choose, said many customers were reliant on comms and had little choice but to pay any increases.

“The pandemic has demonstrated how reliant we are on broadband and mobile services to keep us connected to each other,” he said. “As the current economic climate shows, CPI- and RPI-linked prices are difficult to plan for.”