Contrary to national newspaper speculation prior to last week's Queen's Speech, the extra costs imposed by new proposals will not be passed on to end-users in the form of around a 10p a week price rise. The changes announced by the Queen provide for a five-fold increase in the charges service providers pay to use the radio frequencies and an open auction of any new frequencies made available in the future.

The increased charges - expected to raise £1 billion - were initially proposed by the previous Government and the industry has already budgeted for them meaning mobile phone users will not face higher charges.