Millions of EE customers will have to pay more for calls and texts not included in their monthly plans, the mobile giant has announced. The price hikes, which will be enforced from 19 August this year, will see people paying more for calls to UK mobiles, landlines and voicemails. 10p per minute increase Calls will rise by 10p per minute, from 55p to 65p. The cost of sending a photo message will go up by the same amount, and texts outside of the plan will cost 16p, up from 15p. Other costs will also be increasing, including the fee for paying a bill late and the price of international calls. The price of a call to somewhere outside Europe from the UK will go up from £2 to £3 per minute. Inclusive texts, minutes, data, and the monthly contract fee, will not be affected. EE, which has 31 million customers, has said that people can leave their contracts without paying the penalty fee if they are ‘materially impacted’ by the hikes. Cancelling your contract The company says this means that the customer’s bill following the out-of-bundle additions exceeds a certain level. EE has not said what this level is but has said it is based on the customer’s usual bill. Customers will be notified of the changes by text, email or letter. Last year EE was reprimanded by Ofcom for failing to notify customers that they could leave their contracts penalty-free if they were materially impacted by the out-of-package price increases. EE says that it will also contact anybody who it feels will be materially impacted to let them know they can leave without penalty. Anybody who feels like this will be the case for them and is not contacted by EE should get in touch with the provider within 30 days of receiving the notification of the changes. An EE spokesperson said, ‘‘We’re contacting our pay monthly mobile customers to let them know about changes we’re making to call and text costs outside of their allowance and other fees from 19th August 2019. The vast majority of these customers have unlimited UK texts and calls and these small changes ensure we can continue to invest in offering the best service to our customers.”