BT Pension Deficit May Push up Broadband Prices

BT Pension Deficit May Push up Broadband Prices

BT’s competitors may have to make up the shortfall of the IT company for its pension scheme as a result of an Ofcom consultation. The regulator will decide whether Openreach, the division of BT set up to lease its lines to other IT services providers, should be allowed to increase its prices to make up for BT's pension deficit. If agreed, it could see costs of broadband rising by up to 4%.
BT’s pension scheme had a pre-tax deficit of £9 billion at the end of the last quarter, due to three times as many employees taking out from it as current employees paying in. However, there are fears that increased prices for competitors could lead to increased prices for their IT connectivity users.