The BBC has told the TV Licensing Blog that around 11,000 of its staff are issued with a work smartphone.
The standard issue smartphone is the Apple iPhone SE 128 GB (aff. link), which is allocated to "the vast majority of users".
Staff engaged in production work are issued with the Apple iPhone 13 128 GB (aff. link), which the BBC claims is only allocated when there is "strong business justification".
Using the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we also asked the BBC to provide details of mobile calls made to 084, 087 and 09 prefix premium rate numbers. Calls to these numbers can cost up to 67 pence per minute in addition to an access charge of up to £6
Given some of the BBC's previous antics, we reasoned that the number and cost of calls made to these numbers could be excessive.
On this occasion there is no smoking gun, with only a modest number of premium rate calls being made:
- In the financial year 2022/23 there were 15,667 minutes (261 hours) of calls made at a cost of £9,406.
- In the financial year 2023/24 (to Dec) there were 9,458 minutes (157 hours) of calls made at a cost of £6,921.
Given those figures it would appear that the BBC does have some oversight of the responsible use of smartphones.
You can view the BBC's full response here.
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