Ofcom Reports That SIM-Only Contracts Are More Popular

    LONDON, ENGLAND, September 03, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- There has been an increase in 20 percent in the number of mobile phone users switching to a SIM-only deal, due to the recession bringing about an important decrease in costly monthly contracts. Yes, the global economic meltdown has meant that monthly contracts, which were always prohibitively expensive, are now being made cheaper by their respective phone operators, to appeal to a wider customer base.

Ofcom said that since September of 2008, 1 out of every 5 users keeps the existing mobile phone handset to lower the monthly fees and have more flexibility for the contract length. This amounts to 20 percent of people.

However, many consumers are taking on 2-year contracts to get reduced monthly fees combined with a new mobile handset. In fact, 1 in every 8 new mobile contracts is now going for a 2-year contract.

The number of mobile phone subscriptions far exceeds the number of UK citizens - now there are 77 million subscriptions, which marks an increase since 2008, of 3 million. And still the numbers are fast increasing.

SIM-only contracts can be as short as 1 month long, for some mobile phone operators, and Ofcom's research proves this by showing that 25 percent of new mobile phone contracts were for just 30 days, for 2009's first quarter.

Orange, the mobile phone operator has introduced a monthly tariff of 5 pounds with a contract for 3 years, which marks the longest of the industry. With SIM only deals set aside, this is also the lowest monthly contract currently available.

Still, monthly contracts are a minority, with 30 million, marking an increase by 3 million at a time when more and more people are changing from PAYG to get more convenient deals and better stability, now there are 47 million users, down 100,000.

The total duration of the number of calls made each month exceeds 100 billion minutes, which roughly equal to more than 123 minutes by cell phone, and an average of 80 billion texts which were sent in 2008 or at least 100 texts per person, per month. And now since there are better deals, and unlimited text deals available to customers, this figure is guaranteed to increase by a lot more.

Website: http://www.simonlycontractdeals.co.uk/

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