Monthly deals have been scrapped

BT broadband customers being offered new mobile packages with the relaunch of BT Mobile may be turned off by the lack of pay-as-you-go services and monthly-pay handset contracts, analysts have warned. 

Providing eSIM-only plans for existing customers, BT said BT Mobile would not offer any monthly deals, a feature commonly used by mobile operators to attract customers seeking the latest flashy smartphones. The deals appeal to younger users particularly.

Some customers have pointed to the drawbacks of the strategy. Mantruladi Thushara is a civil engineer in Surrey who has got BT broadband for home but own mobile connections from a different service provider.

Read more: Researchers offer AI tool to help search for climate solutions

Read more: Labour’s FOI cuts would hamstring campaign groups and do little to help councils

“I am happy with both broadband and mobile services. But I would now need an extra mobile connection for my son who belongs to Gen Alpha. Despite being eligible for a BT mobile connection, I am forced to look elsewhere because it doesn’t offer mobile phone pay-monthly deals,” he said.

BT, however, said that customers looking for handsets can do so via EE, which it acquired a few years ago.

A customer service executive at an EE store in Kingston upon Thames said that his store can provide customers BT broadband and EE broadband and mobile services.

“But if you want a BT Mobile, you need to contact the BT to get the line,” he said on condition of anonymity.

“BT owns EE over the past six years and we are BT employees. As far as the mobile is concerned, we deal only with the EE mobile and not the BT mobile,” he said, making it clear that the EE would not have anything to do with the BT Mobile.

After disappearing from the market in October 2023, BT Mobile was relaunched last month, offering eSIM along with spam protection, call-screening and EU roaming facilities on a monthly-rolling contract.

BT said the eSIM-only plan “with built-in spam detection tools is launched to provide reliable, seamless value in mobile connectivity that works alongside BT broadband”.

A mobile industry expert with 15 years of experience in cellular technology and innovation said the return of BT mobile is part of its constant streamlining of its services, offering different services through different branches.

“It is a very customer-centric strategy. As far as the BT is concerned, its network coverage and customer service is far better when compared to some of the other leading networks in the market,” he said.

All photo credit to Karunakharan Pathmanathan