For any broadband contract signed since 17 January 2025, the customer is told in pounds and pence how much the price will rise and on what date, before they sign. Ofcom made that a rule. A debate about inflation indices became a date in the diary.
A second change is already fixed. The UK analogue phone network closes on 31 January 2027, and the switch-off puts a purchasing decision in front of millions of households that have not looked at their telecoms in years.
This piece sets out what the Ofcom rules changed, what broadband search demand is worth, and why a published regulatory calendar is useful to a publisher.
What changed in the broadband market in January 2025?
Broadband price rises stopped being a formula and became a number.
From 17 January 2025, Ofcom banned broadband, mobile and pay-TV providers from writing inflation-linked or percentage-based mid-contract price rises into new contracts. Any increase built into a contract has to be set out in pounds and pence at the point of sale, with the date it takes effect.
The problem Ofcom was solving is the opening for a publisher. As of April 2024 around six in ten broadband and mobile customers were on contracts carrying inflation-linked rises, and Ofcom found that 55% of broadband customers did not know what CPI or RPI measure.
The rules are also not retrospective, so households still sitting on older contracts continue to see inflation-linked rises. That leaves two populations reading the same coverage: one that can see its rise as a figure and a date, and one that still cannot.
Do fixed-price rises make broadband cheaper?
Not according to the comparison sector, and the disagreement is itself the reason readers go looking.
Broadband Genie published a white paper on 31 March 2026 arguing that the fixed-rise model has worked in the providers’ favour. Its analysis puts the largest providers ahead by an additional £186 million over twelve months against what the old inflation-linked system would have produced. It puts average rises at about 10% under the new model, against roughly 8% under the old one, and works a £4 monthly increase on a £22 deal, a rise of about 18%. Those are Broadband Genie’s figures rather than an Ofcom finding, and they should carry its name wherever they are used.
The arithmetic underneath is not disputed. A flat pounds-and-pence rise is a larger percentage on a cheap deal than on an expensive one. Whatever it did to the market average, the model bears hardest on customers who were already buying at the bottom of the market.
For a publisher that is a trigger, not a complaint. A reader who can see the exact rise and the exact date has a reason to look at what else is available.
How large is UK broadband search demand?
Larger than most insurance lines, and priced close to car insurance across the whole cluster.
These are UK monthly search figures from Google Ads data pulled in August 2026, with the value column indexed so that car insurance equals 100. Google buckets close variants, so these figures are deduplicated rather than summed.
| Search term | UK searches per month | Value index, car = 100 |
|---|---|---|
| Broadband deals | 165,000 | 101 |
| Best broadband deals | 40,500 | 85 |
| Compare broadband | 22,200 | 97 |
| Broadband and TV deals | 22,200 | 88 |
| Cheap broadband | 12,100 | 97 |
| Compare broadband deals | 9,900 | 98 |
| Switch broadband | 6,600 | 146 |
| Business broadband | 5,400 | 450 |
| Fibre broadband deals | 3,600 | 89 |
| Broadband only deals | 3,600 | 79 |
Those ten terms are the cluster, and they run at roughly 291,100 searches a month.
“Broadband deals” alone carries 165,000 searches at fractionally above the advertiser value of a car insurance click. That is close to three times the search volume of van insurance. The consumer terms sit in a narrow band around the car insurance benchmark, which is unusual: most lines have a long tail of cheap terms.
The exception is business broadband, at 4.5 times a car insurance click on 5,400 searches a month. It is the same pattern seen in business energy. A commercial connection is a contracted cost signed by someone answerable for the number, and it prices accordingly.
Advertiser value shows how hard firms compete for a customer. It is not commission, and no partner is paid it. Commercial terms are agreed directly and vary by route and line.
What happens at the analogue switch-off on 31 January 2027?
The copper network stops, and the decision is not optional.
Openreach is retiring the traditional copper telephone network, with analogue services due to end on 31 January 2027. Devices that depend on an analogue line stop working on that date, including personal alarms, telecare pendants and older burglar alarms.
Openreach keeps extending its stop-sell areas, where copper services can no longer be ordered. A recent tranche added 554,918 premises across 112 exchange areas. It also launched a telecare migration service nationwide in October 2025.
This is a different commercial moment from an annual price rise. It has a hard date, it reaches an audience that skews older, and it reaches people who are statistically unlikely to have shopped for a connection in years. They are being asked to make a decision about something they rarely think about, which is the point at which a comparison journey earns its place.
Who regulates a broadband referral?
Ofcom, which means the FCA permission question does not follow a partner across.
Broadband and telecoms comparison is not a regulated financial activity, so the perimeter that governs an insurance referral does not reach it. A publisher already carrying an insurance journey holds two separate regulatory positions at once, and each should be scoped against the products actually going live.
Under the affiliate route a tracked referral path points at the comparison journey, commission is earned on completed sales, and nothing runs inside the partner’s own pages. Under the co-branded route the journey carries the partner’s name and Seopa runs it behind.
Why choose Seopa?
Because broadband intent rarely arrives on its own, and a household in the middle of a switch-off is usually looking at more than one bill.
Quotezone states that it compares deals from over 15 broadband providers, and its broadband page names considerably more than that. A household moving off copper is often reconsidering its home phone in the same conversation, and frequently its mobile too, and both sit on the same platform.
Northern Ireland is the next line. Broadband comparison is launching on CompareNI, which already runs gas, electricity and home heating oil for that market. Search for broadband in Northern Ireland is small at 320 a month, but it prices at nearly 1.5 times a car insurance click, and a publisher with a Northern Ireland audience has no comparison incumbent to displace.
Seopa operates the comparison platform behind both brands, and behind hundreds of partner front ends. Nine million quotes a year run across the platform for four million UK customers, drawing on 300+ Insurance Provider relationships built up since 2003, and covering 60+ insurance, utilities and financial products. One arrangement covers several household lines instead of several separate partnerships.
Seopa is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference 313860 for its insurance activity, and is certified to ISO 27001. It has held Deloitte Best Managed Companies Platinum status for three consecutive years.
Talk to the partnerships team
Broadband price rises now arrive on a schedule published well in advance, and the network underneath them changes on a date already set. Both moments can be planned for rather than reacted to, which is rare.
There are three routes onto the platform, and a referral on the affiliate route needs nothing built. Tell the partnerships team which households you reach, and whether your audience skews towards older readers or towards businesses. They will work through the lines worth putting in front of them.
Frequently asked questions
Can a broadband provider still raise prices mid-contract?
Yes. For contracts taken out from 17 January 2025 the rise has to be set out in pounds and pence at the point of sale, with its date, and it can no longer be tied to an inflation index or a percentage formula. A rise on those terms is what the customer agreed to, so it does not by itself create a right to leave.
When does a price rise give a customer the right to exit?
When the provider raises the price beyond what was agreed at sign-up. Ofcom’s rules give the customer 30 days’ notice and a penalty-free exit in that situation. A contractual pounds-and-pence rise that was disclosed upfront is treated differently.
Do the new rules apply to every household?
No. They are not retrospective, so they cover contracts taken out from 17 January 2025 onwards. Households on older contracts can still be on inflation-linked terms.
Did the new rules make broadband cheaper?
Not on Broadband Genie’s reading. Its 31 March 2026 white paper puts the largest providers ahead by an additional £186 million over twelve months under the fixed-rise model. Because the rise is a flat figure, it lands as a higher percentage on cheaper tariffs. That is one firm’s analysis rather than a regulator’s finding.
Is the 2027 analogue switch-off worth building content around?
Yes. The switch-off on 31 January 2027 is compulsory and dated, where an annual price rise is routine. It puts a decision in front of households that have not shopped for a connection in years.