Steadily increasing phone bills are driving customers away from major mobile carriers and into the arms of budget “virtual” network operators, a study of Australia’s phone industry has found.

With the phone industry having now returned to growth after 18 months of losing customers during the pandemic, Telstra has already increased the price of its mobile phone services, and as many as one in six Australians could be looking to swap to cheaper operators if Optus and Vodafone both follow in Telstra’s footsteps, authors of the report warned.