Five U.K. mobile operators have agreed to cap bills run up on lost and stolen phones.
The voluntary agreement will see 3UK, EE, O2, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone set a liability cap of £100 when a pay monthly subscriber reports a lost or stolen phone within 24 hours.
"By working with the mobile operators, we have secured an agreement that will provide consumers with real benefits as well as offer peace of mind," said digital economy minister Ed Vaizey, in a statement on Sunday.
According to a statement issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), EE plans to introduce the cap in the coming weeks, while Virgin Mobile and O2 plan to have one in place by July and September respectively. Vodafone said it will impose the cap this summer. Meanwhile, 3UK has been capping bills run up on lost and stolen handsets since January.
"The liability cap is one of a series of measures we’ve pioneered to help ensure 3 customers are protected and in control of their spending," said 3UK CEO Dave Dyson, in a statement.
The protection is part of a new code of practice to protect unwary consumers from incurring unexpected charges on their phone bills.
The code will see all five operators provide transparent pricing and alerts when customers use up their data allowance. They will also inform customers about how to turn off data roaming to avoid expensive roaming charges, and give them the ability to block unauthorised or inadvertent calls to premium-rate numbers or in-app purchases.
