OFCOM

Three has backtracked on a promise it made to customers last year not to hike prices mid-contract.

MSE update: Friday 12 June, 10.47am – since this story was published, Vodafone announced that from 10 August, its new access charge for 08, 09 and 118 calls will be 45p/minute, up from the 23p/minute charge it will be bringing in from 1 July. This will make Vodafone the most expensive provider in terms of its access charge.

Virgin Media customers with Sky Sports or Sky Movies subscriptions will see prices rise by up to £24/year from 1 June.

Firms plaguing people with nuisance calls and texts face a clampdown by the Government as new laws taking effect from 6 April mean they can be hit with fines of up to £500,000.

The Government has reached a deal with the four mobile networks to improve coverage across the UK, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced today.

Mobile phone users who send a smiley or sad face, or any type of picture icon, in a text could be stung with massive charges – with one user billed more than £200 as a result of using these emojis.

Ofcom has fined two companies a total of £40,000 for making more than 43,000 abandoned and silent calls.

Ofcom has fined mobile network Three £250,000 for poor handling of customer complaints.

The telecoms regulator has fined insurer Ageas £10,000 for making abandoned calls to UK consumers.

About 800,000 pay-monthly Virgin Mobile customers will have their prices hiked by 2.5% next month. But if you're one of them, there's little you can do to leave your contract penalty-free as the firm has sneaked around Ofcom rules.