I have received a text on myT-Mobile contract SIM informing me of changes coming on the 1st July2015.
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If you regularly call service numbers, we offer an 084 and 087 add-on that gives you cheaper calls for just 1p per minute. For £3 a month (£2.50 excluding VAT) you’ll get 300 minutes to call numbers that start with 084 and 087. This will give you peace of mind that you will always have an allocated number of minutes per month to call service numbers.
Once the point is reached where retailers, traders, passenger transport companies, government departments, public services, NHS services and financial services including banks and insurance companies have complied with the relevant regulations and guidance by moving to 03 and other "basic rate" or free numbers, most people will thereafter make zero minutes of calls to 084 and 087 numbers.
I can only assume that EE expect lots of people will buy this add-on because they think they need to make lots of calls to 084 and 087 numbers and then not actually make any such calls, EE thereby gaining £3 per month for nothing.
The economics of the deal make no sense at all. 300 minutes of calls to 084 and 087 numbers would otherwise run up an Access Charge bill of £132 and a Service Charge bill of up to £39 (at up to 13p per minute). Upon payment of £3 per month by the caller, EE is committed to pay out up to £39 Service Charge to the organisations being called. This deal therefore relies on other callers subsidising the additional costs incurred and perhaps explains why the Access Charge is otherwise 44p per minute.
Ofcom's changes are all about call price transparency via the separate declaration of Access and Service Charges. This deal seems to run counter to that by hiding the true cost of these calls by getting other EE customers who do not call these numbers to contribute to the Service Charge through inflated call prices for other calls.
