The media giant said from April, pay monthly contracts will rise by the Retail Price Index measure of inflation taken from March.

As such, contracts taken out on or after 5 May 2016 will see bills rise 2.5%.

A Vodafone spokesperson, said: “We appreciate now is not a good time to be communicating a price rise. It’s something the industry does annually and our competitors have announced their intention to increase prices earlier this year.

“However, we are committed to keeping the country connected and are investing £1billion this year in our network to give our customers the best experience we can. From building new masts to adding increased network capacity to meet the growing demand, now more than ever it’s critical we keep our customers connected.”

Other providers have announced price rises. Here’s a list of what the other firms are doing:

• BT: 1.30% rise from March bill
• EE: 2.2% rise from March bill
• O2: 2.7% rise from April bill
• Three: 2.7% rise from April bill

Rehan Ali, mobiles expert at uSwitch.com, said spring is the typical time when mobile providers put up prices so customers are likely to see bills rise in the next few weeks.

“Ofcom allows firms to increase bills based on inflation, but some firms choose to use the more expensive retail price index (RPI) rather than the consumer price index (CPI).

“This means that BT’s increase is the lowest at only 1.3%, while Three and O2 are increasing bills the most at 2.7% – although O2’s price increase only applies to the airtime portion of the contract.

“The bad news is that you don’t have the option to leave your deal, since these price rises are likely to have been written into your contract whether you signed up last week or 20 months ago.”

Ali said if you try to cancel your contract, you could end up paying a penalty equal to the entire cost of the months remaining on your deal.

“If you’re not happy with the situation, ride out your contract, and make a note to switch providers when your deal is up.

“These price rises will still apply if you are out of contract, but if you’re no longer tied in to your provider you can leave by giving them 30 days’ notice,” he added.