British phone users planning to end their landline contracts early will have to pay lower termination charges.

The communications regulator Ofcom has announced that the termination fee will be hacked by as much as 85 per cent to reflect the cost-savings by no longer providing the service.

Earlier, the Ofcom said that consumers who end contracts early should never have to pay more than the payments remaining, and should often pay less to reflect the savings to providers from not providing the service.

It was also informed that cheaper termination charges will also apply to landline customers who receive broadband services in the same package.

Fee for terminating BT Weekend service has been slashed from £11.54 a month to just £2 a month. Terminating fee for TalkTalk Evening & Weekend has been reduced from £14.44 to £3, customers using Virgin Media's Broadband L service will have to pay £9 a month, down from £12.50 a month in case of early termination of service.

The announcement emerged following an eighteen-month review by the communications regulator to find out whether BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media were complying with the regulations.