UK telecoms say they will ration your mobile data due to war on Iran

UK telecoms corporations Vodafone, Virgin Media, and BT have said they may start rationing mobile data in the UK. That’s because of rising energy costs due to the war with Iran.

This is another instance of privatised utilities proving to be less efficient than public ownership. And it’s another instance of how a Green New Deal would lower costs and end the nation’s reliance on volatile international fossil fuel markets.

Huge losses for UK telecoms

The losses these firms are experiencing are partly due to market competition over an essential service. Telecommunications companies Vodafone and Virgin Media reported significant losses in 2025. Vodafone had a net loss of £3.6 billion. Virgin Media had losses of over £3 billion.

This demonstrates that telecommunications should be brought in-house. Virgin Media’s losses were partly due to debt from investment costs. The thing is, if telecommunications were publicly owned, the government could use debt-free fiat currency to finance infrastructure projects. Then, progressive tax rises could tackle any inflation.

Failing that, public sector borrowing is cheaper than private sector borrowing, meaning lower interest rates for telecommunications investment.

A publicly owned telecommunications provider could offer the cheapest products and services for an essential. It could also provide revenue for the government to allocate to education and healthcare. There would be no need to ration mobile data.

Energy costs

The rise in energy costs also demonstrates the failure of the marketisation of an essential. Following the war on Iran, BP doubled its profit on fossil fuels compared to the first quarter of 2025. That was largely because its production is mainly in North America, which has been less impacted by the war on Iran. At the same time, the market price of oil has skyrocketed. So BP made huge profits instead of delivering oil at much lower than the market rate. In turn, this raises costs for every individual and business in the UK.

That said, looming climate catastrophe means we need to stop all oil production and fossil fuel use. A Green New Deal is the fastest and most equitable way to do so, because although the market is moving towards renewables, it’s not happening fast enough.

Featured image via the Canary

By James Wright

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