TELECOMS giant BT caused outrage last week when it announced its first line-rental increase in two years.

An estimated 9m customers who receive their bills by paper will see the charge go up by 75p a month to £11.75.

The new rate will take effect from April and will net the firm an estimated £80m, according to comparison firm Uswitch.

It is the second blow for customers who prefer paper bills. Last year BT introduced a £4.50 charge for customers not paying by direct debit and now faces challenges in the small-claims courts from unhappy customers.

Those on a paperless billing service will see no change to their rates. They already get a discount on their line rental, and this will increase from 75p to £1.25 to offset the higher charge.

In addition, BT Option 1 and 2 customers will see daytime and evening call charges rise. The price of daytime calls will rise from 3.25p a minute to 4p.

Customers on BT Together Option 1 will also be charged 1.5p per minute for evening calls instead of the current 4.5p per hour – a 1,900% increase for a one-hour call.

However, the 4m customers on the Option 2 and 3 tariffs will see their monthly subscription cut by up to 25%.

About 10.8m BT Option 1 customers have also been granted free weekend calls for the first time.

If Option 1 customers take a 12-month contract, they will also get free evening calls, saving them about £32 a year, said BT.

Steve Weller at Uswitch said: “Today’s announcement signals BT’s intention to drive customers onto its inclusive calling plans. BT is giving the 10.8m Option 1 customers the sweetener of free calls at the weekend, but whether this will be enough to pacify them when they open their April phone bill remains to be seen.”

The move is part of a complete overhaul of prices for the spring. The Option 1 plan will be replaced by the Unlimited weekend plan. BT Together Option 2, which currently costs £3.45 on top of line rental, will be replaced by the Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan, which offers free calls at weekends and evenings, for £2.70 a month.

The Together Option 3 plan which now costs £7.95, will be replaced by The Unlimited Anytime Plan for a reduced price of £5.95 a month.

A recent report from Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, estimated that a typical basket of fixed-line calls had fallen in price by 30% since 2002 and that fixed-line prices were now lower in Britain than in France, Germany, Italy and America.