SIM-only sales surge following ‘Text-to-Switch’ ruling

SIM-only sales at third-highest since 2014 in the week after new ruling came into effect

Ofcom’s ‘Text-to-Switch’ ruling has boosted mobile market sales by 57 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and has led 12-month SIM-only deals to rise 104 per cent.

This is according to data compiled by www.awin.com which analysed its weekly Mobile Benchmarking Report that looks at sales per brand, along with various tariff plans sold since 2014 across SIM-only and pay-as-you-go.

The new legislation came into effect on July 1 and allows customers to text their providers for the PAC code needed to switch providers once their contract is up.

Since the legislation came in there has also been an increase in 30-day SIM-only deals with sales up 27 per cent from the previous week, with a 25 per cent uplift from last year.

Results showed that SIM-only sales values from the week commencing July 1 – when Text-to-Switch launched – was the third-highest it had been since 2014, when records began.

Such was the boost in
sales, it eclipsed sales made in Cyber Week 2017 and narrowly missed
out on beating Cyber Week 2018 by just 13 per cent.

www.awin.com client services director Dawn Quigg has said the new legislation has been beneficial for consumers.

“Ofcom’s new
legislation made it a lot easier for consumers to change their
tariff, and the results show that it had the desired effect, with the
sale of sim only deals seeing an uplift straight away.

“It shows the number of people that were potentially holding back or unable to switch previously, who are now taking advantage of the changes.”