T-Mobile has just announced its latest round of increasing regulatory fees, putting more pressure on customers’ wallets at a time when everything else is already slowly getting more expensive.
A what fee?
The Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee, a fee that those on plans without fees included are subject to, will increase by $0.50/line for voice lines and $0.20/line for data-only lines as of 4/23/2025.
What is a Regulatory Programs & Telco Recovery Fee, you ask? In T-Mobile’s own words, “the fee is collected and retained by T-Mobile to help recover certain costs we have already incurred and continue to incur.” In other words, it is an extra fee that the carrier charges to pad previous or upcoming costs like “compliance with government mandates, programs and obligations, like E911 or local number portability.”
Who is affected by the regulatory fee increase?
Customers with prepaid plans or the “Essentials” plan are subject to ever-changing taxes and fees, whereas those on any of the “Go5G” plans have those taxes included and are not affected by these changes. Older plans that are “taxes and fees included” like ONE plans and Magenta plans, are excluded too.
Starting April 23, 2025, the total fee for voice lines will increase to $3.99 from $3.49 and to $1.60 from $1.40 for data-only lines. For the voice lines, that fee is split between $0.50 for Regulatory Programs and $2.99 for Telco Recovery. On the data-only side, the split is $0.12 for Regulatory Programs and $1.28 for Telco Recovery.
Final thoughts
While these regulatory fees and their respective increases are not bank-breaking numbers, they are still unnecessary. The Reddit author above calls it “just a money grab pure and simple.” Some commenters on the same thread are voicing their displeasure and giving serious thought to changing carriers. Whether any of those threats will actually take place is anyone’s guess, but we can’t blame them for being upset. Nobody likes paying more for the same services, and T-Mobile could be in trouble if this trend continues.
