O2 and Virgin Mobile customers set for mobile price rise of 17.3 per cent from April

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Thousands of O2 and Virgin Mobile customers across Ayrshire will be hit with price hikes of up to 17.3% on part of their bill.The increase will apply from April to the airtime part of your contract - what you pay for minutes, texts and data.What you pay for your handset will not change, but customers who are mid-contract will see their airtime bill increase drastically.The hikes will be made in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) of inflation for January, plus an additional 3.9 per cent as set out in customers' terms.RPI in January was set at 13.4 per cent, meaning bills will rocket by 17.3 per cent as of April.Writing to customers this morning, O2's chief commercial officer, Gareth Turpin, said: "As you can probably imagine, we are facing very substantial increases in the costs associated with running our network and supporting our customers."These include the rising costs of energy, as well as the investment required to support the growing demand on our network."Customer demand for data has almost doubled in the last three years, so we are investing to increase network capacity."Read next: Mystery millionaire living in Ayrshire as hunt for unclaimed £1m ticket launched Brand new Blue Lagoon opens on site of iconic chip shop Stunning expansion plan for top Ayrshire wedding venue as huge revamp unveiled Outlander star proud of Kilmarnock roots as he slams The Scheme documentary Two car crash in Ayr turns motor into 'fireball' as emergency services race to scene Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here Body*